City health inspectors cited temperature issues as the most common violation found in restaurants, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Health officials, who have made more than 140 visits to Milwaukee restaurants between mid-July and early August, found restaurants were cited 42 times for temperature issues. The violations included keeping milk and sour cream in a cooler that was too warm or offering hot food from a buffet that was too cold.
Officials cited holding food at inappropriate temperatures a critical violation, which means there's a higher risk of food-borne disease. The inspection violations were obtained by the Journal Sentinel for its database of restaurant inspections, which is updated monthly.
According to Health officials, other top problems found at Milwaukee restaurants included 28 citations for no date marks on ready-to-eat food, a critical violation. For safety reasons, restaurants are supposed to date foods, so they don't serve anything that exceeds use-by dates.
Other violations included poor maintenance, broken equipment, plumbing, pest infections and dirty equipment.
City health inspectors conduct unannounced inspections at least once a year, and less-than-stellar performances as well as consumer complaints can lead to more. Inspectors observed workers handling food, take food and water temperatures, and look at equipment, storage areas and sanitizers.
According to the city's website, restaurants with critical violations have to correct them immediately if possible, and other violations must be corrected soon. These are followed up by re-inspections to make sure changes were made; if not restaurants can be fined for repeat violations.
For more information, check out Milwaukee restaurants inspections.
