How clean are your school cafeterias?

The number of meals served to students in school cafeterias around the country is staggering -- more than six billion a year. That's a mountain of burgers, fries, chicken nuggets and pizza, no easy task. No matter what the number though, parents hope that every one of those meals be nutritious and safe, prepared in a clean environment. That is exactly what children are getting, according to Mary Kate Harrison of the school nutrition association.

Mary Kate Harrison: “Our record shows that we're serving safe quality nutritious food every single day.”

That may be, but just six months ago Dateline went along with health inspectors on unannounced visits to school cafeterias across the country and found a host of problems. In some of the schools, those problems included food temperature violations, the presence of mice, broken glass and even bugs mixed in with food.

Some of those schools show signs of improvement, but once again, Dateline wanted to follow health inspectors with our cameras to some public school districts we'd never been before. Most school districts said no, but a few, who felt they had nothing to hide, said yes. There were some encouraging signs of schools with well run cafeterias, but the record was far from perfect.

Health inspectors are still finding plenty of critical violations, the kind that can make food go bad and make our kids sick

Chris Hansen: “Is it fair to expect that a school cafeteria has a perfect inspection every time?”

Harrison: “I think that's what we ought to be shooting for. Every single school ought to be-- ought to have as a goal a perfect inspection.”

Our first stop is Fairfax County, Va. This wealthy suburb outside Washington is where many of the government elite live. Dateline cameras followed inspector Kristin Redfern to six schools. Fairfax schools passed temperature checks with flying colors. Hot food was always hot enough to kill the bacteria that could make a child sick.

But the inspector did find other problems. In two of the six schools we visited, sneeze guards were missing on the serving lines.

Hansen: “Will you eat at a buffet that did not have a sneeze guard?”

Jennifer Berg: “I absolutely wouldn't. Neither would my children.”

NYU professor and food safety expert Jennifer Berg says sneeze guards are critically important.

Berg: “Coughing, sneezing, that is such a quick way to pass bacteria and infection that they're carrying into the food.”

DATELINE NBC INVESTIGATION What are critical violations, and how can you check records for schools in your area?

One critical violation the inspector found was dented cans in two schools. A dented or swollen can, especially one with a broken seal, could lead to the growth of dangerous bacteria inside the can.

Berg: “When you're talking about feeding young children, you can't take any risks.”

Penny McConnell: “I've never served food from a dented can. And we never have in Fairfax county.”

Even so, Penny McConnell, the director of food services for Fairfax County schools told us she recently sent out a reminder to food handlers to make sure they throw away dented cans. She also said sneeze guards will be in place by the fall, now that the health department is enforcing that rule.

But for all six schools we went to, inspectors only found six critical violations in Fairfax County. That puts the schools among the best Dateline has visited.

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