Cooper's Hawk, Milk & Honey, Freddy's Frozen Custard, Texas Roadhouse: Restaurants Cited

VIRGINIA — Some food-handling or kitchen issues at a restaurant can be easy to spot: Weird smells, crawling insects or unclean employees are all red flags. But sometimes the problem is harder to pin down, such as food stored at improper temperatures, unclean kitchen equipment, or insufficient handwashing by staff.

Some recent restaurant inspections throughout Virginia noted problems that included: fresh seafood and precooked meatballs not being kept at a properly cool temperature; multiple instances of kitchen staff touching contaminated items and failing to wash their hands; toxic or cleaning chemicals that were not labeled; and trash bags overflowing from dumpsters.

Do you know how clean your favorite coffee shop, go-to restaurant or school kitchen is? Look through these recent food safety inspections from around Northern Virginia and Fredericksburg, courtesy of Patch.

• Ashburn, Sterling Restaurant Inspections: 'Visibly Spoiled' Foods
• Vienna Restaurant Inspections: What To Know From February Results
• Shake Machine Not Properly Sanitized At Fredericksburg Eatery: Report
• Woodbridge Restaurant Inspections: Contaminant Spread By Cooler Fans
• Health Code Violations Found At 10 Fredericksburg Restaurants
• Potentially Unsafe Meatballs Discarded At Fredericksburg Restaurant

"In our experience, it is unrealistic to expect that a complex, full-service food operation can routinely avoid any violations," according to Virginia Department of Health's website.

Restaurants are routinely inspected at least once per year, although more frequent inspections may be warranted depending on the risk level of food processes and the restaurant's history of compliance.