Regular health inspections are performed by the Onondaga Health Department on all restaurants, bars and dining halls in the Syracuse University area. Depending on the type of restaurant, bar or dining hall, these unannounced inspections are performed up to twice annually.

Follow-up inspections occur to see if violations have been corrected. The tables below document the violations found at area establishments throughout the last year unless noted. The vast majority of the violations listed have been corrected by the business (sometimes before the health inspector leaves) in follow-up checks.

Kevin Zimmerman, the supervisor of food protection for Onondaga County, said from his recollection the inspections are generally good and shouldn’t raise major concerns for students.

Critical violations that were found include food that was kept too warm, cleaners not labeled properly and storing raw meat and ready-to-eat food next to each other. While things like raw meat being stored near other foods may seem mundane compared to ants in the kitchen, they can present a serious risk to customers.

‘If bacteria from raw chicken dripped into a salad, someone would be at risk,’ Zimmerman said. Such a scenario could cause food poisoning which ranges anywhere from an upset stomach and diarrhea to death.

Several businesses had problems with insects like ants or fruit flies. While the thought of insects may be more troubling than chicken kept too warm, they don’t present a significant health danger.

‘Ants aren’t known to transmit like roaches,’ Zimmerman said.

Of all the restaurants in the Marshall Street area, Baja Burrito, Chuck’s Caf and Harry’s Bar & Grille were the only restaurants to record no critical violations during the past cycle of inspections.

What to do if you see a health code violation:

Call Onondoga County Health Department at 435-6607. Include what violation occurred, when and where.