On Closer Inspection

Well, the DOH has fired its Taco Belle and, according to the NY Times, has revamped its inspection protocol, so we can now all at least feel safe from the rodent army. But, as we told the NY Sun this morning there's something more than a little remiss in all of this face saving.

The problem lies with the fact that the entire inspection racket is politically corrupt; it is designed to generate revenues from hard pressed local eateries, not protect the public health, and the failure to spot the herd of rats was symptomatic of the crackpot rationality that governs the entire process. Maybe if Dr. Frieden paid more attention to the agency's core mission, and less to the need to use public health as an ideological bludgeon, all of us would be better off. There is nothing worse in this regard than an army of public health scolds.

And as far as the rats are concerned, the city still will not lift a finger to help the restaurants eliminate the food waste that accumulates in storage. The use of food waste disposers would of course be a public health boon, but backstabbing the local businesses seems to have reached the level of public sport. Perhaps the next mayor and speaker will be less hostile to the most important economic engine the city has, aside from its Wall Street cash cow.