Dangerously High Chlorine Levels Found at Eggstasy Restaurant, Receives D-Level Health Score

A local restaurant was using a dangerous level of chlorine.Photo byMikael SeegenonUnsplash

Eggs are a superfood. They come packed with protein, are low in calories, and there is no shortage of ways you can eat them. Whether you’re a scrambled fan, love them over easy, prefer them a little runny and served with toast, or you can’t stop chowing down on fried egg sandwiches, this food is especially versatile. However, the one thing you don’t want is for an egg-centric restaurant to do poorly on its health inspection. That is exactly what happened with one metro Phoenix restaurant, which received a D-level grade on its most recent health inspection.

Located at 5021 South Power Road in Mesa, Eggstasy was visited by the health department on August 6 for its annual inspection. While most restaurants are visited by the health department once a year (give or take a few months), Eggstasy has been visited 14 times in less than two years. This is split between food advisory inspections, food review inspections, and food routine inspections. However you want to scramble it, that’s a ton of inspections in just two years. And, for the first eight inspections, not a single violation was identified. It wasn’t until more recently that the violations began to show. But, as they say, if you look hard enough, it’s possible to find just about anything.

During the most recent inspection on August 6, four Priority Violations were found with a total of six violations overall. A Priority Violation is one that directly contributes to foodborne sickness and injury. Additionally, any restaurant that receives at least three Priority Violations or four overall violations automatically receives a D grade. While Eggstasy pulled out of the voluntary grading system once the health inspection visits became more than routine, it has D-level results.

The first Priority Violation came with the 3 comp sink using a chlorine mixture of 500 PPM (parts per million). This is a dangerously high level of chlorine used. Safe levels are between 50 and 200. While sure, the plates are disinfected, that level can cause harm to skin, eyes, and internal organs if ingested (in a pool setting, anything above a 5 PPM is considered dangerous. This is 100 times that level). On the flip side, the dishwashing machine had a PPM of 25, which is under the required amount. There was an obvious problem with the chlorine distribution system and the restaurant scheduled maintenance to service the equipment.

A second Priority Violation came when testing food temperatures for items inside of a walk-in cooler. Chorizo and barbacoa tested up to 47 degrees, though anything above 41 degrees is considered in the “danger zone” as bacteria will grow in the warmer temps.

Finally, there was a repeat Priority Violation with food storage. The staff was storing raw ground beef above cooked meats. This can cause cross-contamination if anything drips. The staff corrected the storage placement at the time of the inspection.