Have You Got A Concern About a Restaurant or Grocery Store?
A Guide to How the Milwaukee Health Department Can Help You
The Consumer Environmental Health Division of the Milwaukee Health Department licenses and inspects the restaurants, bars and grocery stores; mobile and temporary event food vendors in the City of Milwaukee. We work hard with the industry to assure that Milwaukee vendors provide safe food that’s properly labeled and presented. But there are times that you, the consumer, may see a problem, or suspect that an illness has been caused by something you ate or purchased. Our staff investigates complaints and reports of suspected food borne illness. We’ve prepared this guide to help you understand how inspectors follow up on different types of complaints.
Damaged Food
Badly damaged packages in a grocery store – such as boxes or bags that are torn, so that the food inside is exposed, or cans that have deep dents and/or rusty seams - are not acceptable. Food that shows signs of exposure to mice or rats (such as bite marks, torn packaging and droppings), or that contain parts of insects are considered adulterated and are also unacceptable. Our inspectors want to know about conditions like this.
Even at the best stores, occasionally a package gets ripped or a customer leaves a frozen food on a shelf to melt. If you see one or two damaged packages in an otherwise clean store, we suggest bringing it to the attention of the store manager.
“Outdated” Food
Consumers often call to report “outdated” food. Almost every package in grocery stores has a date on it somewhere, along with language like “Best Used By”, or “Freshest If Used By”. However, for all but a few types of food, it’s not against the law to sell foods past the date on the package. These dates are guides to quality and freshness, but not to safety. The exceptions to this are infant formula and Grade A dairy products.
All foods sold must be wholesome. If a package of lunchmeat shows signs of spoilage, such as mold, off-color or bloating, it must be removed from sale regardless of the sell-by date. If it’s wholesome, it may be sold legally even if it’s past the date on the package. Similarly, packages of cake mix with grain beetles, or moldy, sprouting potatoes are unwholesome and have to be discarded.
Lots of “old” food on store shelves is often a sign of poor inventory management which can lead to food safety problems. If an inspector investigates a report of “outdated” food, they cannot make the store get rid of those products. But they will check for wholesomeness and address any food safety problems that show up in their inspection.
Pests and Poor Sanitation
If you see roaches, mice, rats or their droppings, an inspector will investigate. Please note that a store or restaurant may have bait boxes around the outside of the building. This can be part of a good program of prevention and control. If you see these outside, it doesn’t automatically mean the establishment is infested.
Our staff will follow up on complaints about dirty conditions or consistently overflowing dumpsters. If you find a restroom or tables dirty on a visit to a store or restaurant, we recommend letting the manager know. Conditions in restrooms or public dining areas can change throughout the day. If the restroom or tables and seats look like they’re rarely cleaned, or are filthy every time you visit, then contact our staff to look into it.
Food Worker Hygiene
Your health is very literally in the hands of workers preparing your food. These are some things food workers should NOT be doing, that should be reported:
- snacking while working with food
- touching ready-to-eat foods with bare hands
- working with exposed sores or cuts
- leaving the bathroom, or entering a work area without washing their hands
- doing a quick rinse and wipe without using soap or a paper towel
However, food workers don’t have to wear gloves to hold utensils like fryer baskets, spatulas or ladles.
Suspected Foodborne Illness
Nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal cramps are the most common symptoms of what many people call “food poisoning”. There are many different types of bacteria, viruses and parasites that cause these symptoms (and other, less common symptoms) when they contaminate food. Most of us assume that the last thing we ate before symptoms is the food that caused our illness, but that isn’t necessarily the case. A food eaten a week earlier (or even longer, with some pathogens) can be the actual cause.
We take reports of possible illness seriously. The investigating inspector will call and ask you questions before going to the restaurant or store. The inspector will consider the relationship between the foods you ate, the time between the meal and the onset of symptoms and other factors. Sometimes things “don’t add up”. Even if the facts don’t point to a foodborne illness exposure, the inspector will visit the facility to learn more about how the food you ate was prepared and to look for unusual conditions.
If there are reports of illness involving many people who all attended an event; or multiple reports of illness from un-related people who ate at the same establishment, then the Health Department will start a full investigation. You can help by providing us with the names and contact information of people who attended the event(s).
Our goal when we investigate a suspected or actual foodborne illness is to prevent more illnesses, whenever possible. We may take actions like taking food to be tested, destroying contaminated food, ordering food workers to stay home from work, or closing a facility. We may write orders to correct conditions that are out of compliance. If we can determine what went wrong, we work with the operator of the business to educate them and correct procedures.
There are many times when, even after investigating, we can’t confirm that a given facility was the cause of your illness. Or, we strongly suspect that to be the case, but can’t demonstrate this beyond all doubt. We understand that an inconclusive investigation is disappointing, but we follow standard procedures, developed by the Centers for Disease Control and other public health authorities, and use every investigation as both learning and teaching experiences.
What We Cannot Do
The mission of the Consumer Environmental Health Division is to assure food safety and to make sure that licensed establishments meet food code standards for retail practices. We cannot follow up on complaints of slow or rude customer service. These are things that you, the consumer, should bring directly to the attention of a manager, or someone above them in the organization.
We also do not follow up on reports of drug activity, prostitution or other allegations of illegal activity, unrelated to food safety. The Milwaukee Police Department should be contacted.
We do not join in negotiations between a facility operator and unhappy customers; even people who have a confirmed foodborne illness. Business owners may set their own policies for dealing with unhappy customers. The Milwaukee Health Department does not order refunds or other settlements.
Weights, Measures, Meters, and Timing Devices
Our weights and measures staff tests scales, and timing devices like those in laundromats and parking lots. They check gas pump meters and taxicab meters. They also check to see that items rung up on a barcode scanner at the store scan at the same price as that displayed on the shelves; and check-weigh commodities (such as meats, other food and deli items) that are packaged in retail grocery stores.
Contact us with your concerns. In Laundromats, we only regulate the timing devices and cannot resolve other service problems connected with coin machines, cleanliness and products.
A Word About Public Records
All of our records are public records. Our inspection reports can be viewed online at www.milwaukee.gov/fi. If the inspector finds it necessary to write orders as a result of his or her visit, you can find the report at that website. If you want the inspector to call you back after looking into your complaint, you must leave us contact information. Inspection reports don’t have names on them. However, except for medical records, all of our records are public records. If you want to remain anonymous, please tell our staff, so they can be sure that your name and contact information are handled accordingly.
How to Contact Us
If you want to proceed with making a complaint, you can contact us online or call 414-286-3674. You may use the form for concerns about restaurants, stores and taverns.