Food inspections yield some violations at Faurot Field

Inspectors from MU's Environmental Health and Safety department completed 221 inspections at 39 food facilities inside Faurot Field.

"Our number one priority is the safety of our guests, so we're going to do everything possible to make sure that they're having a good experience while they're at the game, and of course that includes having safe food to eat," MU Spokeswoman Liz McCune said.

MU inspectors handed out 205 violations during the 221 inspections. That averages out to less than 1 violation, or observations as MU's inspections show, per inspection.

However, not every inspection resulted in a violation, while others resulted in more than a few.

Two facilities inside the stadium, South Main Bar and South Portable Bar, did not get a single violation. Stand 18, located on the west side of the stadium had the most violations during the season.

Inspection records show inspectors observed 13 issues at stand 18 during the six inspections completed at that facility during the 2018 football season.

Stand 18's violations can be seen in the interactive map below.

"If you look through our records, you'll see we have a track record to be proud of, we take food safety very seriously and we want our guests to be focused on the game and to have a good time while they're there, and part of that means that they're getting safe food and we want to work hard to ensure that that happens," McCune said.

2017 inspection reports show that inspected spotted a pest at an eatery inside Faurot Field, but a follow-up inspection was not required.

"When we do an inspection, we're looking for those things that can be corrected immediately and then things that might require more corrective action, in that case if there was a cup where it should be, that would be something we could correct immediately," McCune said.

MU's Department of Environmental Health does its own inspection at Faurot Field, and any place at MU that serves food, including residence halls.

Boone County Health and Human Services Department's Assistant director Scott Clardy said the city/county health department does not have jurisdiction to inspect MU facilities.

"The MU facilities are actually state owned property. Our authority under city and county ordinances does not extend to state owned property so we don't inspect those," Clardy said.

Although the city/county department does not inspect MU facilities, Clardy said they often work together.

"We work with them. It's not uncommon for vendors to set up on university property and on non-university property so we work with them to make sure we are coordinating inspections and permitting," he said.

McCune said inspectors inspect Faurot Field eateries at every home game, but the stands inspected don't always know the inspectors are coming.

"If we see a violation, either two things will happen, we will correct it immediately, or if we feel there is a threat to public health," McCune said, "That stand will be closed down immediately."

"In our opinion we don't have problem stands, all of our vendors are held to the same standards, so we are inspecting them regularly and making sure they are following food safety best practices," she added.