Kristen Schweighoefer

Washtenaw County Public Health's Environmental Health Division inspects all food service establishments in the county, including bars, restaurants and schools. That's about 1,110 total facilities.

Each restaurant receives an unannounced routine inspection twice per year, unless they are only open seasonally, in which case they receive one unannounced inspection each year.

The purpose of conducting these inspections is to ensure that safe food is being served to the public. Sanitarians use the Michigan Food Law of 2000 and the 2005 FDA Food Code when doing the inspections and are looking for critical and non critical food safety violations.

A critical violation is one that can directly lead to foodborne illness, such as an employee not washing his or her hands before preparing food or storing food at improper temperatures. All critical violations must be corrected before a sanitarian leaves the restaurant.

However, some violations require a follow up inspection to ensure they are permanently corrected. For example, a dish machine may not be properly sanitizing dishes.

Food Sanitarian inspecting disinfectant at sink station.

A non critical violation is one that may not directly lead to foodborne illness but is important to the overall safety and sanitation of the facility. For example, a few cracked floor tiles will not cause an illness, but if they are not repaired and continually trap food and debris, these broken floor tiles may create a situation that attracts rodents, a much more serious concern.

Each inspection is a snapshot in time, and conditions found at the restaurant are not necessarily the conditions that could be found in the restaurant at other times. Sanitarians ask restaurant operators many questions about the menu, operation and procedures at the restaurant to get the best possible idea of the day to day conditions of the restaurant.

The most recent routine inspections are listed on our website twice a month, and they will be posted to this blog once a month. In addition, the last three inspections for each restaurant are listed on our website so you may view their history over time.

Environmental Health also responds to general restaurant complaints as well as illness complaints. During business hours, please call our office at 734-222-3800 to report a general or illness complaint. You may visit our food safety page on evenings and weekends to submit a complaint.

For more information on restaurant reports, restaurant licensing, or food safety in general, please call the Washtenaw County Public Health Department's Environmental Health Division at 734-222-3800.

Kristen Schweighoefer is the Urban Environmental Health Supervisor for the Washtenaw County Public Health Environmental Health Division. She wants to remind everyone that finding your favorite restaurants inspection report is easy and can be found here. She can be reached at 734-222-3968.