Two Merced County food businesses fail health inspections in early April. Why?
In recent weeks of inspections, two Merced County food business earned a failing grade in a food-safety inspection from the county’s Environmental Health Division.
Twenty-two restaurants, schools, markets and other food businesses across the county were inspected between March 27 through April 9.
Eighteen received “good” ratings, including five where no violation points were noted. Three scored “satisfactory” grades.
The county gives “good” ratings to businesses with six or fewer violation points, “satisfactory” ratings for seven to 13 violation points, and “unsatisfactory” ratings for 14 or more violation points.
The two “unsatisfactory” ratings was given to La Playa in Delhi and Cardenas Market, located on Main Street in Merced.
During an April 1 inspection violations found at Cardenas Market included:
▪ Potentially hazardous foods shall be held at or below 41-45 degrees or at or above 135 degrees.
▪ All potentially hazardous food shall be rapidly cooled from 135 degrees to 70 degrees, within two hours, and then from 70 degrees to 41 degrees, within four hours.
Those problems and others added up to 15 violation points for the Mexican market.
During an April 4 inspection at La Playa, located at 10038 Vincent Road, Delhi received 33 points in violations which included:
▪ Failure to keep food pure and free from contamination, adulteration and spoilage. Any food is adulterated if it bears or contains any poisonous or deleterious substance that may render it impure or injurious to health.
▪ Food employees shall keep their hands and exposed portions of their arms clean, and shall maintain fingernails so they are cleanable. Employees are required to wash their hands: before beginning work; before handling food / equipment, utensils; as often as necessary during food preparation to remove soil and contamination; when switching from working with raw to ready-to-eat foods; after touching body parts; after using the toilet room; or any time when contamination may occur.
▪ An adequate, protected, pressurized, potable supply of hot water and cold water shall be provided at all times.
A follow-up inspection will be scheduled for the restaurant.
Businesses that received perfect scores with no violation points were:
▪ Peterson Elementary School in Merced.
▪ Agaves Mexican Grill in Merced
▪ Day and Night Markets in Los Banos
▪ Los Banos Coffee Company
▪ Los Banos Police Department Jail
The inspections represent a snapshot of conditions found at the time of a visit and may not indicate a pattern of good or bad food safety practices.
In most instances, if an inspector finds a problem, it’s something that can be fixed on the spot. This can include having enough bleach or sanitizer in the water used to wipe down food-preparation areas, replenishing soap, paper towels and toilet paper in the restrooms, or reminding employees to wash their hands and wear gloves and hairnets.
But some violations are considered more serious and, in some instances, can result in immediate closure of restaurants or food businesses when they are observed by health inspectors. Those may include insect or vermin infestations; refrigerators that don’t keep food cold enough or steam tables that don’t keep food hot enough to inhibit bacterial growth, or clogged sinks or drains that cause contaminated water to back up into kitchens.
A lack of hot water is one of the most common violations that health inspectors find when they make their routine visits. Hot water at a temperature of at least 120 degrees is considered important by inspectors for safely washing pots, pans, dishes and glasses, and 100 degrees for employees to wash their hands.
Merced County’s Environmental Health Division maintains a database of restaurant and food inspections online for public viewing at its web page, www.countyofmerced.com/597/Environmental-Health; click the “Food Inspections” tab along the left side of the page.
