Raw meat stored above ready-to-eat food and a can of roach killer on the kitchen floor were among the violations handed out last month by the Maricopa County Health Department to near-by restaurants.

Maricopa County routinely inspects restaurants to ensure the quality and safety of food. Health inspectors look for violations, such as storing food at improper temperatures, employees not washing hands and other health and safety issues.

Each of these violations is assigned a point value, which is then used to determine the restaurant’s score. A gold star is the highest ranking possible and means a business scored in the top 25 percent; a silver star denotes a restaurant scoring in the middle 50 percent, and no award means a restaurant scored in the bottom 25 percent.

If a restaurant receives no award, they are given an opportunity to comply with the health inspector’s complaints and then re-inspected. Here is a look at the restaurants cited by health inspectors in February along with a list of violations that caused them to fail their inspections.

Buca Di Beppo – 7111 W. Ray Road
Insufficient number of hot and/or cold storage facilities available to maintain food product temperatures during storage, display, service and/or transportation; cold potentially hazardous foods not held at 41°f or below.

Charleston’s Restaurant – 1040 N. 54th St.
Cold potentially hazardous foods not held at 41°f or below; cutting surfaces not in good repair and/or easy cleanable.

Swaddee Thai Cuisine – 5055 W. Ray Road
Cooked potentially hazardous foods not held at 135°f or above; employee touched raw chicken, then touched tongs and some single service items without washing hands.

Open container of raw chicken stored over uncovered broccoli and over package of spring roll wrappers in walk-in; raw shrimp stored in rear of flip top behind bean sprouts used uncooked as garnish.

Employee used knife and cutting board on raw fish, rinsed ware under running water then put knife onto knife rack and board on clean ware rack, without proper wash-rinse sanitize.

Rustler’s Rooste – 7777 S. Pointe Parkway
An employee was observed placing hamburger buns on plates at the cook-line with bare hands; a pan of spaghetti prepared 1/19/11 was observed in the walk-in fridge; a can of ant and roach killer was observed in the hallway outside the kitchen.