Sunday, April 27, 2008

Milwaukee Restaurants' Violations

This is sickening.

37% of city restaurants cited for serious health violations

More than a third of Milwaukee's restaurants had at least one critical health code violation last year, city records show.

In most cases the violations occur behind the scenes and the inspection reports are written up without fanfare, meaning that diners have little way of knowing about the cockroaches, mold and other unsanitary conditions that may have been cited by city health inspectors that same day.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says these "critical" violations are serious enough to put patrons at risk of getting sick, at a time when food-borne bacteria account for thousands of illnesses and deaths in the United States each year.

Milwaukee also falls short of federal guidelines that recommend three inspections a year for full-service restaurants. City health officials typically inspect restaurants once a year.

In most cases, city restaurants are receiving a clean bill of health. But at least one out of three times, the findings can be enough to ruin anyone's appetite.

Thirty-seven percent is huge.

These aren't minor violations. These are ones that could make people sick.

Why isn't Milwaukee following federal guidelines recommending three inspections a year?

Once a year isn't enough. If inspections were done three times a year, how many more restaurants might be cited with violations?

If Milwaukee wants to be recognized as place with great restaurants, there should an effort to safeguard patrons by conducting inspections that comply with federal guidelines.

This is not good.

Milwaukee -- 37% of the restaurants had at least one critical health code violation last year.

Bon Appétit!

________________

Search the database of inspection reports.

No comments:

Post a Comment