State orders food safety inspections resume, easing Gallup business concerns

Gallup restaurants, school cafeterias, grocery delis and convenience stores were back under routine state health checks after Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham ordered inspections to resume April 29, ending a three-day pause that had rattled food-service operators across McKinley County.

The pause came from a $1.2 million funding shortfall in the New Mexico Environment Department’s Environmental Health Bureau, which oversees food facilities and food manufacturers, onsite wastewater systems and public aquatic venues statewide. The bureau has 35 inspectors and conducts about 17,500 inspections a year, work that reaches thousands of food-service establishments, including schools, hospitals, nursing homes and detention centers.

For Gallup, where diners and travelers move through the city on Interstate 40 and Route 66, the return of inspections restored a basic safety check that business owners say helps customers trust local kitchens. The state said it did not expect a backlog from the interruption, a key reassurance for managers who depend on routine visits to keep compliance on track and to avoid uncertainty in a corridor economy that relies on both residents and passing motorists.

The governor’s office said it had asked the New Mexico Legislature for the $1.2 million during the January session, but lawmakers did not approve the money. The office said it was now working with the Department of Finance and Administration and the Legislative Finance Committee to find another funding source. NMED said about $800,000 of the gap was unmet payroll costs and about $400,000 covered overhead such as travel and vehicle maintenance.

The Food Safety Program, part of the Environment Department, also works with the New Mexico Department of Health on foodborne-illness complaints and outbreaks, another layer of oversight that matters when a contaminated ingredient or unsafe kitchen practice can spread quickly through a school cafeteria or neighborhood deli. The program permits temporary food events, too, including county and state fairs.

Bernalillo County and Albuquerque run their own food-safety programs, but McKinley County depends on the state system. For Gallup and nearby communities, the governor’s order closed a brief but visible gap in the public health net that helps keep food service safe and accountable.