From “yuck” to health hazards, here are the restaurant code violations you should care about
Restaurant health code violations that involve food temperature or personal hygiene are more concerning than pests or dirty walls to the official who oversees inspections in St. Clair County.
Why?
Because cooking and hand-washing are more likely to affect the safety of the food, making people sick from food poisoning if done incorrectly, according to Sharon Valentine, the St. Clair County Health Department’s director of environmental programs, which includes restaurant inspections.
Government regulations require employees to heat or cool food to specific temperatures to prevent harmful bacteria from growing. The rules also outline specific examples for when employees should wash their hands to avoid contaminating food, including after they touch their nose or hair. Dirty fingernails are also prohibited.
Valentine said bugs and mice in restaurants can potentially spread bacteria, but “most of the time, when we talk about foodborne illness, it’s human error that makes that happen.”
“It is something to be concerned about and to look and see if there’s insects or rodents in the place, but I would be less concerned about the rodents as I would (about) how their people are handling the food, because the people are what’s going to keep the food safe or not safe,” she said.
It’s not just Valentine. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration ranks violations based on their risk of causing food poisoning, and it gives food temperature and hand hygiene the highest ranking. Health inspectors across the state use the FDA’s framework.
Here are the types of violations in order of importance, according to regulators:
- Priority: These are the most serious violations. They involve cooking, reheating or cooling food and hand-washing.
- Priority foundation: These violations involve issues with training, procedures, infrastructure or equipment that are needed for employees to cook, reheat or cool food and to wash their hands.
- Core: These violations are less directly tied to the safety of the food. They can involve general cleanliness, maintenance and other issues.
The federal government estimates one in six Americans gets food poisoning each year from sources that include restaurants, as well as home kitchens and cafeterias.
Food poisoning can affect anyone, but some people are more likely to get sick or to have a serious illness than others, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The groups at risk include adults who are 65 years old and older, children who are younger than 5 years old, people whose immune systems are weakened due to illness or medical treatment and pregnant women.
Health officials offer these tips to avoid food poisoning when you go out to eat:
Check health inspection reports
The results of a health inspection give you a snapshot of compliance with government regulations that are designed to help keep food safe for you to enjoy.
Read the details of health inspection reports to find out if your favorite restaurant has had a priority violation. Reports will often note when and how restaurants fixed priority violations, too. For example, food in the temperature range bacteria grow best in could be thrown away, reheated or chilled on ice during the inspection.
Inspection reports are public documents that you can find online on many health department websites or in the Belleville News-Democrat’s Metro-east Restaurant Inspection Database.
St. Clair County also requires restaurants to post their latest inspection report in public view inside their buildings, according to Valentine.
In 2019, Illinois stopped using scores to rate restaurants’ overall compliance with government regulations after an inspection.
The Illinois Department of Public Health and the FDA have noted one drawback of a rating system is that it’s possible for a restaurant or other food establishment to get a high score while “exhibiting some very serious deficiencies.”
What to watch for if you can see into the kitchen
Kitchen staff are supposed to take these steps under government regulations:
- Stay home when sick to avoid frequent trips to the bathroom while cooking or coughing and sneezing near the food.
- Use gloves or utensils to handle food that won’t be cooked, like deli meats.
- Eat in an area away from the kitchen.
Don’t eat lukewarm food
Health officials stress that cold food should be served cold, and hot food should be served hot. Otherwise, your meal could contain germs that can make you sick.
For example, hot food at a buffet should be steaming and cold food at a salad bar should be chilled, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
How to report a possible health code violation
Health departments investigate reports from the public about suspected food poisoning and concerns about the sanitary conditions of restaurants.
You can file a complaint with the St. Clair County Health Department by calling 618-233-7769 or emailing SCCHDenvironment@co.st-clair.il.us.
This story was originally published April 27, 2022 at 5:30 AM.
