The number of suggested inspections varies according to how a restaurant is grouped into one of four "risk levels," determined by how many people they serve, what types of raw and cooked foods they handle and how complicated their cooking processes are.

Guidelines call for the highest-risk group, called Risk 4, to be inspected every three months. The next lowest group, Risk 3, is supposed to be inspected every six months. Those in Risk 2 are supposed to be inspected once every nine months. And those in Risk 1 are supposed to be inspected once every 12 months.

Lund said, for example, that 346 full-service restaurants are in the Risk 4 category that should be inspected four times a year. The data showed, however, that a mere 13 full-service restaurants had been inspected that often in 2003, and only 17 in 2004.

The News also found that just under half of all full-service restaurants (all in either Risk 4 or Risk 3) were inspected at least two times in 2003, which improved in 2004 to more than 60 percent. But that meant that two of every five still were not inspected at least two times a year, the minimum suggested by guidelines.

For fast-food restaurants, the News found that only about a third had been inspected two or more times in 2003, but that improved to nearly 45 percent in 2004.

Dozens of restaurants in the database had been inspected in one year but not the other. While much of that was because of restaurants going out of business or starting up, some examples were found of restaurants that clearly had continued in business through both years but had not been inspected in both.

Lund acknowledged that the health department has been unable to inspect as often as called for by guidelines but said that is changing.

"The Bureau of Food Protection has been understaffed for the past several years due to retirements, promotions, transfers and career changes. In November of 2004, the bureau became fully staffed," he said.

He said seven people were hired last year, and each required significant time for training. However, he said, "The bureau has in 2003 and 2004 increased the number of inspections. . . . Increased productivity by inspectors in recent months has put us closer to meeting the inspection intervals outlined by the risk levels."

He said the bureau has the equivalent of 17 full-time inspectors. (It has 38 people who do inspections, but many also do work for other arms of the health department.)

Final word

Lund, who makes a living looking for problems at restaurants, says he still enjoys eating out. He may give some courage, or solace, to those who may hesitate after seeing the numbers of violations.