Sask.'s restaurant inspection website down, but to return

There is good news and bad news if you want to find out how your favourite restaurant in Saskatchewan holds up to health standards.

A new and improved restaurant inspection information website is in the works which promises significant improvements including enhanced-search capabilities and more-detailed inspection information.
 
In the meantime, the existing website was shut down in March for the upgrade. The Ministry of Health doesn’t have an exact time line of when the new website will be launched, only to say it will be online in the coming months.

In an email, the ministry explained the decision to shut it down “was made because inspection information from the new system cannot be routed to the old system and therefore the inspection information would not have been current”.
 
The website now suggests you phone your local health region if you would like a copy of the inspection report.

The website also says there’s a $30 charge but the Ministry of Health is now telling public health offices it should be free. However, the website message hasn’t changed yet.
 
News Talk Radio called the Saskatoon Health Region and asked for a report but ran into a road block. It declined to release the report, adding it would be on the website in due time.

It did not offer the option to pay for the report but the health region did say it would take a complaint and follow up.

Since first launching in 2009, the existing website has seen a sharp decline of about two thirds of its visitors. It received about 600,000 hits in the first year and now averages about 218,000 visits annually.

It doesn’t seem many noticed the website go offline with only one formal complaint made to the government.

AShepherd@rawlco.com
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