Several Muncie restaurants received critical health code violations during recent inspections.
Buffalo Wild Wings Grill and Bar, IHOP and Lee's Famous Recipe Chicken received a collective total of 17 critical and noncritical health violations in October.
Buffalo Wild Wings, 838 E. McGalliard Rd., received three critical violations, including employees being unaware of the restaurant's illness reporting policy, bar beverage dispensing wands with mold on them and having ladles with colored tape wrapped on the handles with frayed ends.
The restaurant also had three noncritical violations for having three different types of hand sanitizer and not having a test kit to determine concentration levels, not having soap or paper towels available for the hand-washing sink in the rear washing area and having a bottle of liquid cleaning chemical stored in a box with single service items that leaked out. The inspectors also noted the freezer appeared to be overloaded with stock, although the establishment didn't receive an official violation for it.
All of the violations at Buffalo Wild Wings were corrected the day of the inspection, the health inspection report said.
IHOP, 3300 N. Chadam Lane, received three critical and one noncritical violation in late October. The critical violations included food and juice being stored at improper temperatures, the dishwasher not properly dispensing sanitizer solution and a bottle in the dishwasing area without a label. The noncritical violation they received was because of dirty gloves, tools and markers stored with single service items in the prep area station drawer in the kitchen.
According to the inspection report, all of IHOP's violations were corrected the day of the inspection.
Lee's Famous Recipe Chicken, 300 W. Memorial Dr., received one critical violation for food scoops not being washed at least once every 24 hours. They also received six noncritical violations because the back door isn't rodent proof and rodents have access to the kitchen, the ventilation vents in the kitchen had a build up of dust over prep areas, utensils used to dispense mashed potatoes were being stored in a container of water at room temperature, the walk-in cooler was in poor condition and at least one container of bulk product was not labeled properly.
Most of the violations at Lee's were corrected the day of its inspection, except for the walk-in cooler and back door violations, which the restaurant was given 30 days to repair.
Junior elementary and special education major Lauren Maciejewski said the health violations make her want to think twice about going out to eat.
"[Buffalo Wild Wings and IHOP] are popular places for people our age to eat at," she said. "I would just rather cook my own food so then I know I'm getting healthy, mold-free food. Plus it will help me save money."
Maciejewski said she understands that health violations are bound to happen occasionally, but restaurants should keep up with regulations and follow the standards.
Freshman music education major Becca Carter said restaurants should he held responsible since most of the violations are avoidable.
"They should [be held to a high standard] because they're processing food and giving it to a lot of people," she said.
Carter said even though she's not thrilled about the violations, they won't deter her from eating at restaurants in Muncie.
"I'm not one of those people who's a big health nut," she said. "If it tastes good and I die from it, I'll die happy."
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