Houston Restaurants: The worst violations from July - December of 2016 55 of the grossest health code inspections

Keep clicking to see some of the grossest restaurant violations of the last year. Keep clicking to see some of the grossest restaurant violations of the last year. Image 1 of / 84 Caption Close Houston Restaurants: The worst violations from July - December of 2016 1 / 84 Back to Gallery

Every week, health inspectors from the city of Houston make unannounced visits to establishments with food-service. And every week, without fail, one of those establishments receives an outstandingly bad report.

In the last six months from July to December, we've reported on many inspections. However for this report, the highest scoring and the downright grossest restaurant inspections will be featured.

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To clarify the scoring system, zero demerits indicates a perfect score. Therefore, the higher the value the poorer an establishment performed on inspection. When restaurants score fifty demerits and more, there's reason to believe that multiple violations occurred, or that two or more substantial health violations were committed.

You will most certainly see in this end of year summary that some establishments suffered the hefty consequence of having their status changed to "temporarily closed," because the violation could not be corrected immediately; for example, sewage backup and pest infestations.

Between the time when health inspectors find serious violations like roaches, rats, and risky bacteria, the establishments are able to correct their problems before a re-inspection. Business owners are given a copy of the report.

If you aren't too squeamish, or subject to loose your appetite...

Check out some of the worst and grossest inspections from July to December of 2016 in the gallery above.

During health inspections, inspectors distribute violations that carry a weight between 1 and 25, increasing in severity. The term "demerit" is used by city health inspectors to describe the weighted value assigned to each violation. The Houston Chronicle obtained the results of routine health inspections throughout the city and tallied each restaurant's demerits for a comprehensive list of violations. To view inspection reports online or learn more about food inspections, visit the health department website.