Tools

Restaurants Cooking Up Food Violations

By KSPR News

According to a new report many restaurants across the U.S. are cooking up food violations.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest evaluated more than 500 inspection reports from 20 cities nationwide.

More than half of the inspected restaurants had at least one high-risk food safety violation, like contaminated food prep areas, and not enough hand washing.

The CPSI wants the country to take a hint from Los Angeles County. It requires all restaurants to post an inspection letter grade in the window.

"Before the only thing a restaurant cared about was not getting closed, if they were open, people didn't know how it had scored, now people see the grade and the inspections are all unannounced," said Jonathan Fielding, director of the Los Angeles County Department of Health.

Kansas City and Saint Louis were two of the 20 cities featured in the report.

Kansas City was one of 5 cities with the most violations.

Saint Louis was in the top 5 with the fewest violations.

Saturday, Aug 9 at 1:02 AM Russ in Republic wrote ...

Posting grades in windows sounds like a great idea. There could be a problem, however, if you have unethical inspectors that want to earn some extra "bonuses" for good grades.

Friday, Aug 8 at 10:17 PM Dee in Branson wrote ...

This topic makes me smile. When I was growing up in New Mexico, my mom owned a small-town cafe. My husband always said that if you looked up "stubborn" in the dictionary, it would have my mom's picture, and he was right. She and the inspector (NM had grading stickers that were posted on the window of the cafes) had major issues with each other, and I think he was equally stubborn. As a result, she was graded down for inconsequential things that had nothing to do with safety concerns.

Add a comment

Name:

Comment: 500 Characters Left

Comments are moderated and will not appear on this story until after they have been reviewed and deemed appropriate for posting.

KSPR News and its affiliated companies are not responsible for the content of comments posted or for anything arising out of use of the above comments or other interaction among the users. We reserve the right to screen, refuse to post, remove or edit user-generated content at any time and for any or no reason in our absolute and sole discretion without prior notice, although we have no duty to do so or to monitor any Public Forum.

This content requires the latest Adobe Flash Player and a browser with JavaScript enabled. Click here for a free download of the latest Adobe Flash Player.
More On Demand