The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "food code" ...
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What's in your burger?
This story revealed how a number of restaurants aren’t following health code guidelines. These violations include not using gloves, not cooking at correct temperatures, no mouth guards at buffets, no sanitizer in rag buckets, dirty restrooms, no dates on food in the refrigerator, and storing food where it is subject to contamination.
Tags: health inspection; records; Cedar City; food; sickness; food protection code; Public Health Department; home-owned; chains; privately owned
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Chicken Wings
WCAU-TV "exposed an illegal, unlicensed and unsanitary chicken wing processing business in Philadelphia rowhome garage." Using hidden cameras they found which restaurants were serving the chicken wings and confronted them. They also found that these restaurants also had poor health inspection reports. As a result of the investigation the chicken wing processing business was closed.
Tags: food; safety; health; restaurants; consumer; chicken; illegal business; health inspection; health code; hidden camera
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Kids at Peril: Dangerous School Food
A look into the school cafeterias of the Houston Independent School District and poor conditions which the food is being stored. The 400,000 kids in the district are at risk for food-borne-illness or, in some cases, death. Kitchens did not keep track of the temperature of the food to prevent illness, but instead would not let food sit out for more than a four hour period.
Tags: cafeteria; school kitchen; illness; food poisoning; Houston Independent School District; HISD; health code; inspector
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Who's watching over Kansas City's restaurants?
The Kansas City Star reports on severe sanitation problems at city's restaurants. The investigation main findings include that roughly 800 food establishments had gone a year or more without routine inspection; the inspection staff is generally inexperienced and poorly paid; the city food code lacks serious financial penalties and is based on 25-year-old federal standards many other cities abandoned years ago. The stories document about 20,000 food code violations discovered by city inspectors from 1996 to 1999. In some instances, inspectors ignored sanitation problems that could have led to closing of a restaurant.
Tags: food code; foodborne diseases; sanitation; diners; safety; public health; FDA; Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition; CAR
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Trouble simmers in chefs' kitchens: Restaurant inspection standards fall short
The Star-Ledger found that "state regulations designed to protect consumers from food-borne illness fall far short of federal standards -- and enforcement of these regulations is inconsistent at best. Problems with food, which cause about 2 million sicknesses in New Jersey each year, are not limited to greasy spoons or obscure delis, either. Sanitary inspection reports for some of the state's best restaurants contain numerous examples of practices that could make customers sick."
Tags: restaurant inspection; food safety; public health; health departments; sanitary code; food handling
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Risky Refreshments
"Under the Michigan Food Code, anyone who sells food has to be licensed through the local county health department. For years, High School concession stands were selling nachos, hot dogs, pizza and some even tacos without a license. Many believed as long as the school kitchen was licensed, the people who run the concession stands could also serve food. We found the food code had been in effect since 1978. Some local health departments didn't start cracking down on the concession stands until 1992 . . . Smaller counties say manpower is preventing them from licensing the food service operations. . . We also found two schools who were slow to comply with the requirements. With the state adopting a new law, which went into effect in November 2000, the laws are strict. We found most people were receptive to the change and wanted safety. Others thought it was a hassle."
Tags: TAPE; TRANSCRIPT; Food; concession stands; county health departments; food service operations
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Restaurant Reservations
Pioneer Press reporters found "from 1995-1999 restaurants violated food-safety regulations at least 130,000 times." Violations included unsafe food temperatures, cross-contamination risks, poor employee hygiene and insects/vermin in storage areas. Their investigation discovered that top health officials had given restaurants second, third and fouth chances before issuing penalities and were making deals to keep problems quiet. Above all, consumers were the last to know about code violations until food poisioning had struck.
Tags: State Department of Health; contamination; food poisioning
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Special Report: Health Violations
Using Onondaga County Health Inspection Records to reveal "that most campus dining facilities and area restaurants in the past three years violated various health codes."
Tags: health inspections; cleanliness; restaurants; dining halls; food
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Dangerous dining
A computer investigation of restaurant inspections shows that Denver restaurants are shut down or fined only infrequently for serious violations of health codes. The Denver Post reports that "in Denver, restaurants that chronically violate health rules aren't shut down, and customers aren't warned about problems that can make them sick."
Tags: Food
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"Scary record: food handling at Dome"
When Adrienne Haynes and a friend worked their first night cooking hot dogs at a Kingdome concession stand, they witnessing some sickening procedures: a plastic shovel used alternately as a dustpan and an ice scoop for soft drinks; hot dog buns picked free of mold, then served; a man with dirt-encrusted hands filling popcorn boxes next to a woman sneezing and coughing over food. Haynes and her friend quit that day, then promptly reported the company to the health department. But to the Seattle-King County Health Department officials, it was just another complaint to add to a long list of chronic city-health-code vilations at dozens of Kingdome concession stands.