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If you run a grocery store, you know about health inspectors and health codes. You also know that the last thing you need in this fragile economy is a health code violation. Most cities in the U.S. have two types of violations: critical and non-critical. Pest birds can cause a critical violation. If you want to continue to do business, you must find a way to get rid of birds that may be loitering around your store.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, critical violations could cause a food-borne illness to infect a person. Most government inspection programs are based primarily on food safety, instead of food quality.

Stores are categorized based on the food safety risk posed by any activity conducted in the store. If a store is handling easily spoiled or food subject to infection, such as raw meat or deli service, it is considered a high-risk store and inspections are conducted more frequently. Moderate risk stores include convenience stores that heat cooked foods like hot dogs or pizza. Low risk stores usually carry only pre-packaged, non-potentially hazardous foods. There are many ways to get rid of birds, which when spotted by health inspectors, may cause you to incur a health code violation.