You will generally only see chafing dishes at a temporary buffet setting.--Employees should be constantly monitoring and maintaining the buffet or salad bar. Then there are of course the restaurants that focus entirely on buffets and salad bars. Asian style all-you-can-eat restaurants are another big one with many popping up in most big cities.). Even El Pollo Loco and other Mexican style restaurants allow you to pick and fill up from a choice of salsas. Most if not all states prohibit any food facility from applying sulfating agents to fresh fruits and vegetables intended for raw consumption, or to any potentially hazardous foods. No customer is allowed to touch any of the exposed food with their hands. Look for steam coming from the warmer or steam table and even the food itself. Vermin are strictly illegal in all areas of the establishment. Heat lamps usually fall into this same category. They harbor and can transmit dangerous microorganisms as well as general filth to your food and should not be tolerated. --The proper temperatures must be maintained. Do not trust a chafing dish for long term holding (more than 2 hours) of foods. Sulfites used to be a common preserving agent especially in fruits, maintaining a fresh appearance.Except for the high end establishments, just about every type of restaurant these days has some form of customer self-service buffet or salad bar serving ready-to-eat foods. If there is no evidence of a shield or lid then the display is most likely not approved and should be avoided.--Absolutely no flies or other types of vermin (cockroaches, rodents) can be present. Contrary to what you may have heard, there is no acceptable number or amount of vermin allowed in a food facility.--No sulfites or sulfiting agents. Sulfites are still allowed on fruits and vegetables not sold in the raw state, such as dried fruits and grapes used for wine.-- No leaking and pooling waste water on the floor area, either from melting ice, or the refrigeration or warmer unit. --Most foods should have a label identifying the common name of the food, sauce, dressing, condiments etc. This shield is generally known as a sneeze guard for the larger displays of food and is usually glass or transparent plastic, angled above the food enough to block possible contamination coming from a customer's mouth (saliva from sneezing, coughing, talking, etc