How clean are your school cafeterias?
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Penny McConnell: “No violation from a health inspection is benign. Even if it's corrected on the spot, it requires retraining so it doesn't occur again.”
Our next stop Louisville, home of the Kentucky Derby. School and health officials say the school lunch program here is rarely cited for critical violations. At the first school we went to, Atherton High, they are doing well. Food temperatures were on target, employees were washing their hands to kill germs before handling food, not even a dented can was found.
But on closer examination, inspector Leslie Jenks spotted some disturbing sights. Under the kitchen sink were roaches, all dead, but a sure sign of a pest problem. The inspector then checked the dry storage area, many times a haven for vermin. Once again, the inspector found what she called, an "uninvited guest." It appeared to be a mouse.
Hansen: “And what's the potential that that kind of a rodent presence could make a child sick?
Berg: “They're scurrying on counters, they're near cutting boards, leaving little droppings. If they're not noticed droppings getting into food. Could absolutely make children sick.”
In Louisville, food establishments from restaurants to school lunch rooms are required to post the letter grades given by inspectors. And in Louisville school cafeterias, just like in the classroom, getting a "C" is not a good thing, especially when you got an "A" last time. But three of the six schools we went to were at the top of the class with no critical violations at all, winning them straight "A’s.”
Marty Bell is a spokesman for Jefferson County schools.
Hansen: “But what about the other school where the roaches were found and the dead mouse?”
Marty Bell: “That happened from the time they inspected in the morning, by the time the inspector got there. The roaches should not have happened and caused us to respray as a result of it.”
Hansen: “But if we go back to those two schools six months from now, what will we find?”
Bell: “You'd better find A's hanging outside the door.”
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