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Lewiston restaurant under investigation after eight years without health inspection

Emperor of India's last health inspection, which it passed, took place in May of 2010. This was just a year after inspectors banned the restaurant from serving food from mid-November 2008 until the restaurant passed an inspection by an Idaho Department of Health and Welfare inspector in mid-May 2009, according to Niki Forbing-Orr, a spokeswoman for the Department.

LEWISTON, Idaho — The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare leader said they are investigating a restaurant in downtown Lewiston who hasn’t received a health inspection in eight years.

Emperor of India’s last health inspection, which it passed, took place in May of 2010, according to health officials. This was just a year after inspectors banned the restaurant from serving food from mid-November 2008 until the restaurant passed an inspection by an Idaho Department of Health and Welfare inspector in mid-May 2009, according to Niki Forbing-Orr, a spokeswoman for the department.

Two months after the inspection in May 2010, Praveen Khurana, the owner of Emperor of India, sued the district and five of its employees. Khurana contested the practices of Lewiston public health district inspectors, who suspended his food license three times “for repeated food code violations,” according to court documents.

The litigation was eventually dismissed and closed by an appeals court in 2015. Inspection notes indicated that the litigation between Khurana and the district played a role in how the district handled Emperor of India inspections.

Health inspections are required at least once a year, according to the policy of Public Health-Idaho North Central District, which covers Lewiston. The Department of Health and Welfare began looking at the frequency of inspections at the restaurant when it was alerted about a public records request, made by the Lewiston Tribune, regarding a departure from normal practices because the state conducted their inspections, not the district.

Usually the Department of Health and Welfare does not verify if local districts are regularly inspecting restaurants in their jurisdictions, according to Forbing-Orr.

“The department recently was informed that inspections were not being done on that food establishment by the public health district, so we’re investigating the situation,” Forbing-Orr said.

The department conducts random audits of inspections with its limited staff of three employees for the entire state, including one temporary employee.

The agency’s food protection program manager, Patrick Guzzle, knew when an inspection of the restaurant was not conducted in 2011, according to inspection notes. Guzzle gave a deposition in 2011 in the case filed against the public health district, according to court documents.

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