The Brazos County Health Department is seeing more and more people send in complaints through social media.
While they welcome these kind of comments they can't do anything with them.
The Health Department is seeing more people reach out to them through social media outlets such as Facebook and Twitter -- sending photos and complaints about restaurant experiences.
Jessica Paul with the Health Department says they need your contact information if you are filing a complaint.
"They don't want their name, they don't want to be linked to it. What the public doesn't quite understand is that we don't give that information out to the establishment themselves -- we just have that for our information and our database," said Paul who is an Environmental Health Specialist.
Other common complaints are getting sick from a restaurant.
"They got sick from a specific establishment, sometime. They obviously blame the last place they ate. But it could be what they ate the day before so it does have an incubation period -- like six to eight hours. It could take a little less, a little more time just depending upon the person themselves," she said.
While connecting to the Health Department on social media may be convenient they say there are better ways to get in touch.
The Health Department needs is a paper trail so sending an email is a great way to start or you can simply give them a call.
Sharleen Moore thinks the solution should come from the restaurants.
"I think it would be better if everybody would come together and do a great job on that, because you spend your money you want good quality food," said Moore of Bryan.
Even still, bad experiences happen.
The Health Department showed us a picture of a cockroach that was sent in via email.
Jessica Paul says the public is their eyes and ears.
“It is very important just because again there’s ten, maybe 11 inspectors. We have over 1,500 to 2,000 restaurants split between all of us; and we usually just do twice a year inspections for each establishment," she said.
The Health Department doesn't take anonymous complaints.
They also recommend if you do see a problem at a restaurant to notify a manager before you leave, that way the problems can start being addressed sooner.
