WASHINGTON (AP) - Millions of children eat in school cafeterias that don’t get the twice-yearly health inspections required by Congress to help prevent food poisoning.

Schools are supposed to get two visits from health inspectors every year. But one in 10 schools didn’t get inspected at all last year, according to Department of Agriculture data obtained by The Associated Press. Thirty percent were visited only once.

"Do you want to go to a restaurant that hasn’t been inspected?" asked Ken Kelly, attorney for the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a consumer group that has studied cafeteria safety.

Fewer inspections don’t necessarily translate into more cases of food poisoning - "but it contributes to all the other little things - temperatures, rat droppings - to all those things that could make your child sick," Kelly said.

Inspections are meant to ensure cafeteria workers wash their hands properly and that they keep lunchtime staples such as pizza hot or milk cold to prevent germs from growing.

Common violations in cafeterias involve wrong temperatures - failing to keep hot food hot enough or cold food cold enough - or things like having an open Dumpster outside the cafeteria.

Kelly’s group issued a report in January that found:

● Rhode Island schools were commonly cited for cross-contamination of utensils, improper holding temperatures and the presence of vermin.

● Washington, D.C., schools had hot and cold holding equipment that needed repair.

● Schools in Hartford, Conn., have been cited for having dirty floors that needed repair and inadequate handwashing stations and sanitation.

Recent outbreaks of food poisoning in kid favorites such as peanut butter - and not-so-favorite spinach - have renewed the focus on safety.

In school cafeterias, the news is not all bad: Sixty-one percent of schools got two or more inspections in the 2005-2006 school year. That was the first year Congress required two inspections; the old requirement was one inspection per year.

The inspection rules apply to all schools that participate in the federal school lunch program, which provides free and reduced-price meals to low-income children.

Nearly every public school participates in the program, which is run by the agriculture department. Half of the nation’s 60 million students eat lunches prepared in school, the department said.

According to the department, of 94,132 schools reporting in the 2005-2006 school year:

● Ten percent, or 9,498 schools, were not inspected at all.

● Twenty-nine percent, or 27,184 schools, were inspected once.

● Sixty-one percent, or 57,450 schools, were inspected at least twice.

No data was reported by 7,309 schools.

The missed visits mirror a drop-off in food safety inspections by the Food and Drug Administration. A recent AP analysis found FDA inspections fell by nearly half between 2003 and 2006.

When inspections don’t happen in cafeterias, it’s not the school’s fault. Cafeteria workers don’t inspect themselves. It’s up to state and local health authorities to schedule inspections, and many health departments are severely understaffed, particularly those in small towns and rural areas.

Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Advertisement