Restaurant operators in Newton County, Georgia, are upset about recent inspection results, complaining that the new regulations are too strict, reports CovNews.com.

Community staples like Jim Stalvey’s and Smiley’s restaurants and popular newcomers like Bangkok Grill and Debbie’s Deli and Café have all received failing inspection scores, as low as 44, in the past couple of months. The owners say they’ve had historically good scores and they believe the health inspector for Newton County is unfairly stringent and inconsistent. They say the low scores are a serious issue because their business has substantially declined and some are in danger of shutting down.

Restaurant scores decreased across the state after the Georgia Department of Health adopted more stringent regulations in Dec. 2007, but the scores partially decreased simply because the regulations were new and restaurants had to adjust. Most counties saw significant improvement in scores over the course of 2008 as restaurants worked with health inspectors to learn the new health code.

District Three Commissioner Nancy Schulz said the regulations changed focus from looking more at the facilities before 2008 to looking more at food safety now. She said the guidelines are much more stringent in terms of food handling, food safety, proper temperatures and proper sanitation as opposed to what the facility looks like, although that still plays a part.

However, despite the decline across most of the state, Newton County has continued to see a larger number of "C’s" and "U’s," a failing score, than surrounding counties and other counties across the state.

Restaurant inspection results for Newton County are available online, here.