BND adds 251 new health code violations to database

Editor’s note: Learn more about the BND’s Metro-east Restaurant Inspection Database by visiting our user guide. We give you tips for what terms to search to find what you’re looking for.

The Belleville NewsDemocrat has added more than 200 health code violations from January to its Metro-east Restaurant Inspection Database.

The database contains health inspectors’ findings from all of the inspections they conducted since 2022 at restaurants across St. Clair County.

In January, inspectors cited 60 restaurants for a total of 251 health code violations. Most of the cited restaurants had one or two violations, but inspectors uncovered as many as 29 violations at a single location.

Live cockroaches in a kitchen, mouse droppings in a storage room and an employee washing their hands while wearing gloves were among the inspectors’ findings.

The database now includes 366 restaurants.

Restaurants receive unannounced, routine inspections from the health department two to three times a year. The health department will also send inspectors to investigate a complaint or to follow up on issues they identified in a routine inspection.

The BND will continue updating the database online regularly at the link bit.ly/StClairinspections, and we’ll let you know when the latest inspection results are available.

If details from an inspection report published in the database need clarification, restaurant owners and managers can contact reporter Jennifer Green at 618-239-2643 or jgreen@bnd.com.

DEFINITIONS

Here are definitions for the food industry jargon contained in the reports:

● Priority: This is the highest ranking that regulators give certain health code violations. Priority violations are considered the most serious because they directly affect the safety of the food at critical steps like cooking, reheating or cooling and hand-washing, all of which can make people sick if done incorrectly.

● Priority foundation: This is the middle ranking that regulators give certain health code violations. Priority foundation 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: This is the lowest that regulators give certain health code violations. Core violations are less directly tied to the safety of the food. They can involve general cleanliness, maintenance and other issues.

● Category I, II and III establishments: Places that serve food are categorized based on the level of risk of food poisoning. Their category determines how often they’re inspected. The riskiest settings are Category I establishments, which cook meals from raw ingredients; they are inspected three times a year. Category II establishments reheat commercially frozen food and other food that was prepared in advance. Category III establishments serve only pre-packaged food they don’t have to cook or reheat. In St. Clair County, Category II and III establishments are inspected twice a year.

● Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point: A system for preparing food safely that covers steps like the temperatures for cooking or reheating specific foods to prevent food poisoning.

● Time/Temperature Control for Safety Food: Foods that should be cooked, reheated or cooled to specific temperatures to prevent bacteria from growing.

Lexi Cortes: 618-239-2528, @lexicortes