Posted: July 19th, 2009 - 6:09pm by Katie Filion

In Springfield, MO, KY3 News investigators reviewed a year’s worth of restaurant inspection reports for the county, finding:

• The number one critical violation to be temperature abuse;
• American-style and Chinese restaurants to have more critical violations, with national fast-food chains having the least critical violations;
• And the majority of problem restaurants being located in the north side of Springfield.

The Springfield-Greene County Health Department conducted nearly 2,800 inspections at restaurants and food service facilities between June 2008 and June 2009.  KY3 News spent weeks looking at all of them to see which ones are the worst offenders, whether there's a part of Springfield with more at-risk establishments, and what violations are mostly likely to land a facility on an inspector's radar.

Of the 20 restaurants with the most critical violations in the last year, 17 of them had problems keeping food hot enough or cold enough, a problem that can lead to salmonella, E. coli and other foodborne illnesses. 

Roxanne Sharp, a Greene County Health Inspector, said,

"If they have a lot of violations, we're there six times a year; some are eight times a year, some are 12 times a year, depending on problems.”

Continuing,

"We don't like to [close an establishment] but we know, if there's something of imminent danger to someone and they can get sick, we want to close them so they understand what happened.”

Among KY3 News' findings is proof that inspectors find more problems at restaurants in certain parts of town. Of the 20 restaurants with the most critical violations, 16 of them are on Springfield's north side, including six on North Glenstone near Interstate 44, five on North Kansas, and five others spread throughout the north side

As far as the types of restaurants with the most critical violations, a vast majority are sit-down American-style, including three Ziggie's locations. Four are Asian restaurants and just one is part of a national fast-food chain -- the Braum's Ice Cream and Dairy Store on North Kansas.