State health standards require restaurants to maintain sanitary dining conditions.
An unsanitary restaurant dining room is a health hazard for customers and workers. It also greatly diminishes the appearance and overall professionalism of the establishment, signaling to customers that the ownership doesn't care about how the place looks or how the business performs. Customers who choose to dine in such conditions are doing so at risk to their health.
Dining Room Problem Areas
The dining rooms of most restaurants across the country are cleaned by servers at the end of the evening. These employees may have already worked over eight hours before cleaning, and this fatigue may cause them to miss certain spots that become problem areas if left unchecked over time. When sitting at a table, observe the levels of condiments--if salt and pepper shakers have been refilled and rotated. Discolored salt or encrusted pepper shakers are often an indication that these have not been properly cleaned or rotated in some time. When sitting in a booth, run a finger or napkin in the crevice where the seat cushion meets the seat back. Food particles and other objects often accumulate in this space. A quality service staff will clean these areas nightly to avoid unsanitary conditions in the dining room.
Risk of Foodborne Illness
An unsanitary dining room increases the risk of food-borne illness for patrons as well as restaurant workers. Improperly cleaned surfaces, silverware and plates can easily transmit harmful bacteria if guests are allowed to eat using them or if restaurant workers are not properly washing hands in accordance with the United States Department of Agriculture mandated health and safety standards. A 2009 study published in the "American Journal of Tropical Hygiene and Medicine" found that 20 percent of desserts tested at Houston, Texas, restaurants were contaminated with coliform and E coli bacteria. These bacteria can cause severe flu-like symptoms and even death if ingested.
Reporting Unsanitary Conditions
The largest problem with reporting unsanitary conditions in restaurants may be the state health department's ability to respond to them. The 2007 closing of a rat-infested restaurant in Greenwich Village, New York, illustrated that the Health Department lacks appropriate avenues to respond to multiple-complaints of a single restaurant. The New York Health Department's own assessment of its responses to complaints was termed "inadequate" even when one person complained of a rat bite while eating at the establishment. This is because the system is designed to ignore multiple calls about one establishment and looks on them as "redundant."
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