By Patricia Sabatini / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

“Sometime before the end of this year, Pennsylvanians heading out to dinner anywhere in the state should be able to go online and get a glimpse of how clean the restaurant kitchens are before deciding where to eat.

“For the last two years, the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture has been working on a system to electronically collect thousands of restaurant inspection reports each month from health departments scattered across the state and then post the reports in a central location on the department’s website.

“While there’s more work to be done, the goal is to have the system functioning within the next year, according to Lydia Johnson, director of the agriculture department’s bureau of food safety and laboratory services.

“A number of health departments statewide, including Allegheny County’s, already post restaurant inspections online, but many others do not. Even in places where reports are available online, having them available from across the state all in one spot would be convenient for people dining outside their hometowns.

“The state agriculture department conducts some 40,000 annual inspections at restaurants and other food facilities in locales that do not have their own inspection programs. It makes those reports available online.

“But an estimated 60,000 other restaurant inspections statewide are handled by nearly 170 individual municipalities and counties that have varying capabilities and policies for providing the public with online access.”

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