ORLANDO, Fla. -- An exclusive "Dateline"-WESH NewsChannel 2 investigation found school food inspections that might ruin your appetite.

Video

Food Inspections Reveal Problems At Schools

"Dateline" aired the video Sunday of health violations at a North Carolina school, and at one in Nashville, Tenn., flies and bugs in some of the food that may have been just moments away from hitting a student's lunch tray.

The Orange County Health Department inspects school cafeterias quarterly. We went through several pages of their most recent reports and found one problem that stands out in inspection after inspection.

"Dateline" found flies sitting on food in a Charlotte, N.C., lunchroom, and in Nashville, a 50-pound bag of flour is discovered bug-infested in the storage room.

"There is a bag of flour back here that you all are going to have to throw away -- a whole new bag. It has mouse droppings all over it, and it's got those little weevils," an inspector said.

In our investigation into Orange County public schools, we found mold coming through the lunchroom ceiling at one school, according to county health inspectors.

An entire refrigerator at Gotha Middle School cooled at 48 degrees. It should be 41. At Hungerford Preparatory High in Eatonville, a run-down milk cooler out back could be a breeding ground for rodents, and at Rock Springs Elementary in Apopka, the warmer repeatedly kept food too cool until it was finally fixed after a warning.

When food is not cooled or heated properly, it's considered a critical violation.

"That will allow the bacterial growth to grow that may be hurting us," Orange County Health Department representative Bill Toth said.

Three school districts acknowledge they've got a problem with warmers in their cafeterias. But fortunately, they've never had an outbreak of foodborne illness.

"This one gets at a high enough temperature that she can actually keep the hot vegetables and the hot entrees hot enough, but across the district, that's not true," Orange County public schools representative Lora Gilbert said.

Slowly, the old ones are being replaced. Meantime cafeteria managers must constantly monitor temperatures to be in compliance.

The five school cafeterias with the highest percentage of health violations over a two-year period include Olympia High School in Orlando, West Orange High School in Ocoee, Lake Whitney Elementary in Winter Garden, Dr. Phillips 9th Grade Center in Orlando, and the school with the most violations is Chain Of Lakes Middle School in Orlando.

To comment on this story, send an e-mail to Kathy Marsh.