health: Restaurant Inspections for Washtenaw County in June 2012

Washtenaw County Public Health's Environmental Health Division inspects all food service establishments in the county, including bars, restaurants, schools and seasonal vendors — about 1,110 facilities in total! Inspection results are now published monthly on AnnArbor.com.

Why do we inspect?

Inspections help to ensure that safe food is served to the public. Sanitarians (otherwise known as health inspectors) 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.

How frequent are inspections?

Routine inspections take place twice per year, or once per year if the business is only open seasonally. Routine inspections are unannounced. Environmental Health will initiate additional inspections if a foodborne illness or other substantial complaint is reported.

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 many questions about the menu, operations and procedures to get the best possible idea of the day-to-day conditions of the restaurant.

Critical vs. non-critical violations

Sanitarians are looking for critical and non-critical violations during inspections. Critical violations can lead directly to food-borne illness and must be corrected immediately. Examples of critical violations include an employee not washing hands before preparing food, storing food at improper temperatures and a dish machine not properly sanitizing dishes.

Non-critical violations may not directly lead to food-borne illness but are important to the overall safety and sanitation of the facility. Non-critical violations must be corrected within 90 days of the routine inspection and include items such as employees not wearing hats or hairnets, not covering food during storage and dirty floors.

What if I have a complaint?

Environmental Health responds to general restaurant complaints as well as food-borne illness complaints. Please call our office at 734-222-3800 to file a complaint or to report a suspected food-borne illness.