The Facts: Wake County will begin enforcing a ban on pets in restaurants — even outdoor patios — in 2011. Many dog owners, and businesses, have indicated they will not abide by the new interpretation of the regulation; it previously banned pets in food-preparation area. The new enforcement will penalize restaurants two points for violating the regulation.
Our Opinion: Whether people agree or disagree with the new enforcement, it is weak and fails to provide health sanitation officials with any real leverage against businesses. The regulation must be clarified or given teeth for it to be effective.
Wake County’s canine owners will lose a popular privilege in 2011. A revised interpretation of current regulations will bar pets from Wake County’s restaurants — even outdoor patios.
Food safety officials have a long-standing policy of excluding pets from food preparation areas, but have reinterpreted the restrictions in a way that will now apply to all restaurant areas.
Many dog owners and businesses have indicated a resistance to the new enforcement and seem unwilling to change their behaviors despite food safety officials’ threats.
The problem with the food safety requirements is their lack of clout. Officials need to either rewrite the policy so expectations are clear or give the fines some teeth.
Punishing businesses by deducting two points from their health sanitation score is weak enforcement and will not change consumer and business behavior.
The fact of the matter is that there are dog people and people who don’t like dogs. The current policies made some of those who don’t like pets uncomfortable while they ate. Likewise, many people consider their pets a part of the family. It is impossible to fully accommodate both of these distinct groups; health safety officials must definitively rule one way or the other.
This isn’t unfair to either group, but is simply the way of the world.
For comparison, highway safety officials establish speed limits for the state’s roads. There are people who choose to speed and those who obey the speed limits. Both groups have a distinct preference in their driving habits, but face serious fines if they break the law.
If food safety officials are serious about eliminating the presence of non-service pets at restaurants, they need to take a stand and distribute serious fines.
The only way to make businesses abide to these safety regulations is to make them trepid.
Businesses take sanitation scores seriously because health inspectors can shut them down, on the spot, if they fail to meet expected requirements.
Assuming pets present health risks for restaurant patrons, give businesses a ten-point fine to their sanitation score for breaking the regulations.
This isn’t to say the policy is necessary, but is simply to challenge the ambiguous and pathetic nature of the current regulation.
If officials expect to enforce regulation, they must give it some teeth or make it distinct — the current statute just won’t do.