Q&A: Manager Explains County Restaurant Inspections, Grades

When you’re cooking in your own kitchen, you clean it, wash your fruits and veggies and closely monitor how thoroughly cooked your food is. Can you say you know the same about your Clayton and Richmond Heights restaurants? 

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), one in six people get sick from eating contaminated food annually. Furthermore, the CDC reports that the norovirus and salmonella are the most common pathogens that lead to disease with 58 percent and 11 percent, respectively, resulting in illness. 

Clayton-Richmond Heights Patch has been publishing inspection results for the past several months (most recently, and ). But how exactly are inspections conducted, and how do county officials arrive at a particular rating for a restaurant?

Florissant Patch editor Aja J. Junior recently put those questions and others to Gerrin Cheek Butler, program manager for the Restaurant Inspection Program, in an electronic interview. 

Florissant Patch: How often are inspections done?

Gerrin Cheek Butler: Inspections are risk based. The inspector assigns a number between 1 to 4, with the number indicating the number of times per year a food establishment will be inspected. This is based on the extent of the food preparation, the type of food handling and past performance at the food establishment.

Florissant Patch: How does a restaurant achieve its grade?

Butler: Violations are assigned points based on severity. Those points are then subtracted from a possible 100. The grading system is as follows:

A = 100-90; B = 80-89; C = 79-70

Florissant Patch: What triggers a follow-up inspection?

Butler: Having an uncorrected violation can trigger a follow-up inspection.

Florissant Patch: How often do restaurants pass off the first time?

Butler: Ninety-five percent or more pass inspection the first time.

Florissant Patch: What does each grade say about the restaurants?

Butler: The grade says that the food establishment has a score that is within the range as noted above.

Florissant Patch: What percentage of restaurants fail inspections? What happens with those?

Butler: Only a small percentage (5 percent) fail inspection. If a food establishment fails an inspection with no violations that lead directly to food-borne illness, then we work with them to gain compliance through a compliance schedule. Violations that would lead to food-borne illness may require that a food establishment be closed until the violation is corrected.

Florissant Patch: What are some of the most common problems for St. Louis County restaurants as far as inspections?

Butler: The most common violation is lack of Hepatitis A vaccination records.

Florissant Patch: How many inspections, on average, are done each year?

Butler: Approximately 10,000.

Florissant Patch: How is the determination made to do an inspection on a currently existing restaurant? Are inspections for newer restaurants performed on a certain basis?

Butler: All food establishments are assigned a risk category as noted above.

Florissant Patch: How are inspections performed?

Butler: All inspections are done in-person visually by one of our inspectors. These inspections are surprise inspections—no forewarning is given to the establishment.