How to Report a Restaurant for Mold

There are more than 579,000 restaurants around the United States according to an August 2010 article in the Los Angeles Times. Nearly every one of those restaurants are inspected by a state or county health official who evaluates the overall cleanliness of the establishment to see if any sanitary violations are being made. If you happen to visit a restaurant and find mold on your food or anywhere else in the restaurant, report it to your county health department.

Instructions

• 1

  Document the specifics of the mold that you witnessed. Write down the name and address of the restaurant, the date and time you witnessed the mold, where you found the mold, approximately how much mold you saw and any other details you feel are necessary. This information is something your county food and health inspector will likely ask you for when you file your complaint.

• 2

  Contact your county health department; consult the website of the American Public Health Association, which contains a comprehensive list of links to state health department websites (see Resources). Your state's health department website should include the proper contact information for the health department in your county.

• 3

  Report the mold incident to your county's food and health inspector and provide him with all of the information you gathered in step one. Give your name and contact information to the inspector so that he may contact you in the event he needs any additional information or details from you later on.

• 4

  Contact your state's health department and report the mold incident if you are unable to talk to someone at your county health department. Provide your state's health department with all of the information you collected in step one and let the representative know that you were unable to talk with anyone at your county health department.