Keeping watch for the well-being of all by holding restaurant kitchens to standards of safety and cleanliness is Sally Waters, Island County Public Health inspector.

Armed with a device to measure food temperature and a set of eyes well-tuned to the details of the kitchen, Waters studies restaurants to make sure they aren’t putting the public at risk.

“We want to set everyone right in proper food handling techniques so no one gets sick,” Waters said.

From roaches to rodents, Waters has seen it all in the 20 years she’s been inspecting. As the only full-time food program employee in Island County, she’s responsible for twice yearly routine checks of restaurants from Oak Harbor to Clinton. She also checks out grocery stores, serving stations at temporary events and even jails.

While some restaurant owners go running when they see Waters coming, she tries to put them at ease, despite the stress of inspections. Building relationships with them is important to Waters.

“I look at this as more of an educational opportunity than ‘aha, you don’t know what you’re doing!’” Waters said. She prefers to wield her power to educate. If something is wrong, her goal is to fix it permanently.

“Restaurants in Island County all try really hard to do their best to follow rules because they depend on locals to eat there and there’s a really good telegraph system on the island — if something goes wrong in Clinton, you know about it in Coupeville,” Waters said.

When inspection time rolled around for the kitchen at Coupeville Middle and High School, Waters headed in and announced she was there to inspect. Staff removed lids from the hot food as Waters washed her hands not only to kill germs but also to make sure the restaurant has a working hand-wash station equipped with soap and paper towels.

“Poor hygiene is the number one cause of food illness,” Waters said. This comes from improper hand-washing and glove use.

Then Waters cleaned her food temperature device, a long needle attached to a box. She stirred the food — Oriental noodles — to ensure even temperature and inserted the needle then recorded the temperature. She also took the temperatures of cold food, like milk and the salad bar.

Waters tested the percentage of chemicals in dishwashing water by dipping in a strip and examining the colors.

Next was the walk-in refrigerator. Waters took temperatures and made sure equipment was working well. She also examined the walk-in freezer.

In the dry storage room, Waters made sure there were no cockroaches or rodent droppings and that staff weren’t doing anything outlandish like thawing meat in there.

She also checked for cleanliness in the kitchen.

“I can tell today’s dirt versus what’s been there for five months,” Waters said.

Waters asked kitchen staff why they were doing what they were doing and educated them if they were unsure. She made sure food handlers weren’t wearing jewelry from the elbow down, which can harbor germs. A wedding ring is allowed but gloves must be worn over wedding rings, artificial nails, polished nails and Band Aids.

“No one wants to find an artificial nail in their food,” Waters said.

Then it was discussion time with Food Services Director for Coupeville Schools Jeannett Wendell.

“It’s not difficult dealing with Sally. If we have a problem we go directly to Sally,” Wendell said, adding that Waters helped the district immensely during a meat recall five or six years ago.

Waters filled out paperwork using a point system to grade the kitchen then discussed it with the owner, ending with chitchat about family and upcoming vacations.

Waters may be friendly with restaurant owners but she’s persistent about ensuring changes are made to keep the establishment clean and safe.

Waters told one establishment that they couldn’t leave their door open in autumn because rodents will get in. They didn’t pay attention to Waters and when she checked back, their door was wide open. As Waters watched, a mouse walked right in.

“I went in and said, ‘Remember that talk? I just followed a mouse in,’” Waters said.

Another time, Waters said a restaurant owner wouldn’t believe her when she spotted a cockroach infestation. The restaurant owners told her the few cockroaches she’d seen were the only ones. Skeptical, Waters lifted up a poster on the wall.

“And there’s mom and dad, grandparents and kids — you name it,” Waters said.

There’s some skill in being able to close a restaurant that won’t comply with rules without the owners hitting her, Waters said.

“You have to have a good sense of humor to do this job. People look at their restaurant like a child that’ll never grow up; it’s part of the family. It’s very personal and you can really upset someone saying their child’s been bad. You have to stand your ground; some people really don’t want to follow the rules,” Waters said.

As to where Waters eats, she’s eaten at many local restaurants but prefers her bag lunch because she’s always on the go.

“I spend a lot of time eating lunch in the car because of traveling from north to south on the island. I tend to make people nervous if I’m in their place so it’s easier to bring a lunch,” Waters said. If she sees something wrong while eating at a restaurant, she feels absolutely compelled to say something.

Waters said her sister hates going out to eat with her because she’ll point out when she shouldn’t eat something because a cook wiped a knife with raw beef on his apron or a fly landed on the food. Her friends don’t want her in their kitchens. Waters laughs it off.

“I enjoy the work I do and I enjoy all the people,” Waters said.

Waters has been in the food industry since 1971. She worked demonstrating equipment in kitchens her dad built, in her uncle’s restaurant, at an espresso stand and in a food processing plant inventing ice cream flavors.

When her uncle’s restaurant went through an inspection, Waters became interested and talked to the inspectors about how to become a food inspector. They told her she’d need a chemistry degree, something Waters wasn’t keen on obtaining. Later, she learned she needed a food science degree instead and worked to earn that. Now, Waters is a registered sanitarian, registered enivronmental health specialist and certified professor of food safety.

She also works with the Oak Harbor High School culinary team, trains interns and helps restaurant owners make plans for new kitchens.

“I enjoy this work and have found the fine line of being friendly with everyone but still letting people know the importance of food safety,” Waters said.

Waters fields a variety of food-related questions, from food illness complaints to how to cook Thanksgiving turkeys. She can be reached at 240-5554 ext. 28.