Your favorite restaurant may serve delicious food but could it be hiding a not so tasty reality? Gaps in restaurant sanitation practices can put you at risk for a serious case of food poisoning. How do you know if a restaurant you frequent is living up to restaurant cleanliness standards? Here are some ways to assess the effectiveness of a restaurant's cleanliness practices:
Check the wait staff
Do the waiters and waitresses appear clean and are they wearing tidy uniforms? This shows the restaurant enforces high standards of neatness and cleanliness for their servers. Pay particular attention to the bus boy. Are his cleaning rags filthy? This can be a sign of poor restaurant sanitation.
Check the restrooms
The cleanliness of a restaurant's rest rooms is often a barometer of the restaurant's sanitation practices. Are the restrooms dirty and lacking in soap and towels? Restrooms in this state of disorder make it difficult for the wait staff and cooks to wash their hands before they handle your food. This is a recipe for food poisoning.
Check your table
Was your table properly cleaned and dried before you sat down or does it have a sticky residue? An improperly cleaned table is a sign of a lack of attention to proper restaurant sanitation. You may want to reconsider dining there in the future.
Check your glass and utensils
Needless to say, your silverware and water glass should be clean and shiny. This suggests the dishwasher has been properly trained and is doing a thorough job. If you find debris in your water glass or on your utensils, run, don't walk to the exit door.
Check the restaurant's sanitation reports online
Restaurants are inspected on a regular basis and restaurant sanitation reports are made available to the public. Restaurant sanitation violations can be either critical or non-critical in nature. Critical violations if left uncorrected are more likely to contribute to food borne illness than non-critical violations .Critical violations include food being cooked improperly and being stored at improper temperatures. Non-critical violations aren't directly associated with food borne illness, but could lead to critical violations if not corrected. An example of a non-critical violation would be the improper cleaning and maintenance of restaurant tools. You should be able to access these reports through your local health department and determine if your favorite restaurant is following proper restaurant cleanliness practices.
Eating at a clean restaurant with good restaurant sanitation reports can be an important way to reduce your risk of a debilitating food borne illness.
