Fresno County Civil Grand Jury<\/a> said staffing levels essentially the same as the 1990s couldn\u2019t keep up with a rapid expansion of new restaurants.<\/p>\n\u201cWith the turnover in the restaurant businesses and even within staffing within those restaurants, there\u2019s always people that are there to hear our message that we can help connect with and then we can help reinforce these habits,\u201d Gore said.<\/p>\n
![\"Vertical](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Vertical-broiler-with-meat-from-the-night-before-on-the-floor-at-room-temperature-being-cooled-by-a-.jpeg\")
Fresno County Health Department inspectors wrote on their Oct. 31, 2025 report: \u201cVertical broiler with meat from the night before on the floor at room temperature being cooled by a fan.\u201d (Fresno County)
\nAl Pastor Kept at Room Temperature Overnight<\/p>\n
Multiple news articles and a strong social media following surrounded Tacos El Cabezon at Shaw and Maroa avenues, popular for its al pastor and adobada cooked right in public view.<\/p>\n
Restaurant owner Armando Arias told GV Wire that after receiving the inspection report they began working to correct the issues. He said the county cleared them and they\u2019re fully permitted, compliant, and operating normally.<\/p>\n
But inspections photos showed that same trompo of al pastor stored in a closet overnight with a fan blowing on it to keep it cool. Inspectors noted salsas and veggies stored overnight outside of refrigerators. Gore also said the restaurant wasn\u2019t equipped to cook the al pastor outdoors that made them so popular. Gore called the findings \u201calarming.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was a lot of education that was done that night, and that continues to be done to let that operator know and other operators as well how to be in compliance and how not to be in compliance,\u201d Gore said.<\/p>\n
Restaurant owner Armando Arias told GV Wire that after receiving the inspection report they began working to correct the issues. He said the county cleared them and they\u2019re fully permitted, compliant, and operating normally.<\/p>\n
They\u2019ve stopped cooking outdoors, but they are working toward getting outfitted and permitted to do so.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe county inspection identified a few items that needed correction, and we addressed every one of them immediately. The county cleared us, and we\u2019re fully permitted, compliant, and operating normally. We take food safety seriously, and whenever something is flagged, we fix it right away,\u201d Arias said. \u201cThat\u2019s why our customers continue to support us every day.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Salsa](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Salsa-stored-on-the-floor-uncovered.-Observed-flies-throughout-facility.-Unapproved-food-storage-con.jpeg\")
Fresno County Health Department inspectors wrote on their Oct. 31, 2025 report: \u201cSalsa stored on the floor, uncovered. Observed flies throughout facility. Unapproved food storage containers.\u201d (Fresno County)
\nCounty Hired Seven More Staff After Grand Jury Report<\/p>\n
County inspectors have more than 20,000 inspections each year. Bars and grocery stores get about two inspections each year while restaurants get four. Public complaints result in more inspections.<\/p>\n
California laws have shifted focus toward \u201crisk-based\u201d inspections \u2014 looking less at structural issues such as broken tiles and more at operational issues such as food handling.<\/p>\n
That breaks down to approximately four to five inspections a day, Gore said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhich doesn\u2019t sound too bad, but that\u2019s basically all day, every day. And then once you get to the bottom of your inventory, once you get to the bottom of your list, guess what? It starts back over again,\u201d Gore said.<\/p>\n
The Grand Jury report in 2024 said the 22 inspection team members that cover the 11,000 restaurants in Fresno County could not possibly inspect all restaurants in that time.<\/p>\n
Gore said since the report came out they have hired seven new staff with a goal to hire several more.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome have gotten trained and are out there on their own, some are still going through the training process,\u201d Gore said.<\/p>\n
California laws have shifted focus toward \u201crisk-based\u201d inspections \u2014 looking less at structural issues such as broken tiles and more at operational issues such as food handling, Gore said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat it means is we focus more time educating somebody about hand washing instead of coming down on somebody for a cracked tile in the corner in the back of a storeroom,\u201d Gore said.<\/p>\n
Education Key for Restaurant Health and Safety: Gore<\/p>\n
While the closure rate for restaurants is low, it does happen, Gore said. Most of the time the county orders a restaurant closed it\u2019s for functional issues, such as not having any hot water.<\/p>\n
\u201cThings that you can you can do at home or get away with at home may may not be allowable or may not be acceptable in a restaurant. And so that\u2019s that\u2019s that\u2019s a little bit of a challenge, too.\u201d \u2014 Matthew Gore, Fresno County Department of Public Health\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Other times, however, it can be a public health risk. Oftentimes, restaurant owners know of the problems.<\/p>\n
Gore remembered one restaurant where the cockroach problem was so severe he had to order it closed. So for several days, the restaurant got deep cleaned and later sprayed. After reopening, the owner thanked him for the closure order. They knew the problem was bad ,but bills and employee needs kept them from closing on their own.<\/p>\n
The owner\u2019s thanks surprised Gore.<\/p>\n
\u201cI cost you probably four days of business which could be thousands of dollars, and they\u2019re like \u2014 \u2018thank you, Matt, thank you,\u2019 I appreciate it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
There are some restaurants that stand out for how clean they are.<\/p>\n
He once remarked to a donut shop owner how clean the fryers were. Six months later, he revisited the place for another inspection and he again remarked how clean it was.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe goes, \u2018Last time you were here you told me this was the cleanest donut fryer in Fresno and I wanted to make sure I maintained that,’\u201d Gore said.<\/p>\n
The goal for inspectors is to work with businesses, he said. They don\u2019t expect restaurant owners to know the health code front and back, and so their primary mission is to educate.<\/p>\n
Many who get into the restaurant business without experience think they can cook the same way they do at home. They don\u2019t know how to properly wash their hands or that they can\u2019t eat while working on the line.<\/p>\n
\u201cThings that you can you can do at home or get away with at home may may not be allowable or may not be acceptable in a restaurant,\u201d Gore said. \u201cAnd so that\u2019s that\u2019s that\u2019s a little bit of a challenge, too.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An up-and-coming Fresno taco truck caught the public\u2019s attention when the operators secured a permanent spot in central…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":95767,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":{"0":"post-95766","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fresno","8":"tag-fresno","9":"tag-fresno-headlines","10":"tag-fresno-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95766","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95766"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95766\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/95767"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}