VIRGINIA BEACH – Parents take it for granted that the food their children get at school is safe to eat and that it's prepared in a sanitary environment.

"I just expect it to be clean and free from any illnesses that can harm my child," says parent MacKenzie McKinney.

It’s up to people like Keith Zirkle to make sure that’s the case. He’s been inspecting cafeterias for more than 30 years, looking at things like dishwashers to make sure they're hot enough to sanitize everything.

In Virginia Beach, the school system works hand-in-hand with the health department.

Video: Cafeteria inspections

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The Director of Food Services for Virginia Beach, James Ratliff, says officials pay close attention to inspections and he stresses violations are corrected as soon as they’re found.

13News was at Pembroke Meadows Elementary School when inspectors found a critical violation involving cheese. Even though the products hadn’t been taken out of the holding refrigerator, Zirkle found the temperature wasn't cold enough.

With that, the cafeteria manager immediately threw the cheeses away.

There are two types of violations -- critical and non-critical.

"I would say that, most of the time, the kitchens are as clean as anyone's home, probably more so in regards to the records that we have to keep," says Ratliff.

Those records include tracking food temperatures throughout the cooking and cooling process and several checks on the level of sanitation solution used for cleaning.

"We leave it in the solution for about 10 seconds and you notice it matches up 200 parts per million, which is what they're require to have," explains Zirkle.

"We're really just concentrating on the critical violations that could lead to a foodborne outbreak," notes Erin Sutton, the environmental health manager of the Virginia Beach Health Department.

94 schools, public and private, had critical violations, according to the latest cafeteria inspections. Among them:

The Technical Center in Virginia Beach had expired pastry cream.  Inspectors say it should have been discarded 7 days before the inspection occurred, based on the use-by date.

Norfolk’s Poplar Hall Elementary had a dented can of corn.

In Newport News, Orcutt Baptist had food residue on a can opener blade.

In York County at the Grafton Complex cafeteria, a hand washing facility at the middle school serving line was blocked. 

At Chesapeake's Southeastern Elementary, the sanitizing solution wasn’t at an acceptable level and there were six repeat non-critical violations ranging from a leak in a walk-in refrigerator to rusty ceiling vents.

Portsmouth’s Olive Branch Elementary had two critical violations of meat not being cooled or held at the proper temperatures.

Sutton says schools react immediately to correct critical issues.

"We're bringing the certified food manager over. We're educating them on what the violation is and how they can correct it," Sutton notes.

You can check the inspection reports for your school, or your favorite restaurant, on the Va. Dept. of Health Website.

To find your school, click on the locality you want. When the page comes up, type in the word schools and you'll get the listings.