The mystery of why Columbia does its own food inspections- solved at last?

Unlike most other communities in Pennsylvania, Columbia Borough has long done its own restaurant and food inspections. At Wednesday night’s safety committee meeting, Zoning and Planning Enforcement Officer Jeff Helm, who performs the inspections, explained why.

In answer to a resident's questions, Helm said the borough is able to do its own 70 inspections per year because “It doesn’t take that long to do the inspection.” He also said the borough continues the practice in order to maintain control, and because of the community's aversion to outside intervention. Helm added that another factor is the culture of the town. “We like to control the circumstance within the borough,” Helm said. “We’re not a community that likes outside intervention in our businesses. That’s why we don’t have a third-party person come in and do zoning or planning. Our planning commission actually is an autonomous body. It doesn’t recommend to borough council. That’s the culture of Columbia Borough.”

In most other municipalities in the state, the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture performs food inspections, free of charge. Those inspection results can be found HERE. Columbia Borough's inspection results are not available on its website and are accessible only through a Right-to-Know request.

In October 2015, the borough discussed the option of going with state food inspections, as Columbia Spy reported HERE. At that time, Columbia Borough Council said the matter was under review.