Columbia Mexican eatery faces food handling issues during inspection

A Columbia Mexican restaurant is poised to address a number of critical and noncritical violations after an inspection within the last week.

Critical violations found at La Terraza Mexicana Grill, 1412 Forum Blvd. on Aug. 28, while still relatively minor, needed more immediate attention than noncritical violations.

Routine inspections happen two to three times per year based on priority and location of Columbia restaurants, Columbia/Boone County Public Health and Human Services previously has said. Follow-up inspections happen if a critical violation is found. Restaurants usually can correct noncritical violations by the next routine inspection. Reports are from Aug. 27 through Aug. 30, since Monday was the Labor Day holiday.

The inspector observed an employee handling ready-to-eat chips with their bare hands instead of wearing gloves, a repeat violation. The chips were discarded. An employee also was observed doing multiple tasks while wearing the same pair of gloves instead of changing gloves and washing hands in between tasks. The inspector was to verify this behavior had changed by a reinspection Tuesday, but a follow-up report was not yet available.

Potentially hazardous sour cream that tested above 41 degrees Fahrenheit was discarded during the inspection. A noncritical, but potentially related, violation was a reach-in cooler was out of temp and needed a service by a reinspection Tuesday. The inspector noted a critical repeat violation that there was potentially hazardous food without a date mark, which needed updating by Tuesday.

The dish machine was not dispensing enough sanitizer, so it needed a service before a reinspection Tuesday, but the follow-up report was not available. The restaurant also did not have approved sanitizer for kitchen use so the inspector was to check for sanitizer buckets and bottles Tuesday. A hand sink did not have hot water or a way to dry hands during the inspection, which the restaurant had until Tuesday to correct.

Remaining violations were noncritical. An employee who was eating food in a food preparation area moved to an employee-designated area. Food that was on the floor of the walk-in cooler was moved to at least six inches above the floor, uncovered food items were covered and a fly trap was removed from above a food preparation area because it was the wrong type for use in that area. The walk-in cooler door still was noted as in disrepair from a previous routine inspection. The restaurant had until Tuesday to fix, along with replacing some missing floor and wall junction protective coving. A missing ceiling tile in the kitchen can be replaced by the December routine inspection.

A few other routine inspections

Two of the three locations of Andy's Frozen Custard had their inspections last week. The 2661 Trimble Road location on Aug. 28 had food product stored on the floor of a walk-in cooler rather than six inches off the floor, which staff can address by the next routine inspection in February. The 15 N. Stadium Blvd. location, however, had a soiled ice machine it had to have clean by Wednesday, but a follow-up report was not yet available.

Smoothie King, 808 E. Nifong Blvd. Suite G, had a soiled ice machine when it was inspected Aug. 30. It had until Thursday to clean. A follow-up report was unavailable. Other issues were addressed during the course of the inspection. Dishes found in hand sink were removed and employee drinks stored with food products were moved to a designated employee area.

Restaurants address other critical issues

Several restaurants, which previously had routine inspections, fixed critical issues found by the health department by last week.

House of Chow, 2101 W. Broadway, by Aug. 27 had added date labels to food, rearranged how raw meat was stored in coolers and moved food off of walk-in cooler and freezer floors.

Soda nozzles were clean and food items had covers Aug. 27 at Los Comales Mexican Restaurant and store, 3510 I-70 Drive SE.

Pancheros Mexican Grill, 421 N. Stadium Blvd., staff had cleaned a soiled ice chute on a soda machine and added weather stripping to the front door by its Aug. 28 reinspection.

One of the locations of Steak 'n Shake, 1912 W. Worley St., had to pay a $110 reinspection fee because it had failed to address a violation. Staff had finally removed the ice buildup in the walk-in freezer by Aug. 30. The location had received a prior reinspection Aug. 27 when the ice still was there, leading to the fee.

Rio Grande Mexican Restaurant, 3306 Broadway Business Park, on Aug. 30 had a clean ice machine, clean soda machine nozzles and a dish machine that was dispensing the correct concentration of sanitizer.

Charles Dunlap covers local government, community stories and other general subjects for the Tribune. You can reach him at cdunlap@columbiatribune.com or @CD_CDT on X, formerly Twitter. Subscribe to support vital local journalism.

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Columbia Mexican eatery faces food handling issues during inspection