Phoenix-Area Restaurant Found Serving Month-Old Food During Re-Inspection

It wasn't the freshest sauces and dips served at a local restaurant.Photo byTravisonUnsplash

In a perfect world, a business would improve upon its faults. It would receive feedback and make the necessary adjustments to ensure not only a quality product but also a quality experience for guests. Unfortunately, that does not always happen, as is the case with one Phoenix area restaurant. Following an inferior health inspection, the majority of restaurants do perform better during scheduled re-inspections. The eateries know what needs to be corrected and they know when the repeat visit will occur. Even if everything isn’t addressed, most do see improvements during subsequent inspections. The restaurant in question, however, made zero improvements, and as such has become a repeat offender of several critical food safety standards.

On September 12, OG’Z The Original Empanada Shop was visited for its routine inspection. At this time, the restaurant, located at 21824 South Ellsworth Road in Queen Creek was cited for nine violations, seven of which were Priority Violations. A Priority Violation is one that directly contributes to the increased risk of foodborne illness or injury.

The Priority Violations included issues such as a cook washing dishes then immediately returning to work with food without washing hands, storing raw eggs and other proteins above ready-to-use foods, foods in the walk-in cooler reading above 41 degrees while hot-holding food tested below 135 (food between 41 and 135 degrees falls into what is referred to as the “Danger Zone” as bacteria grows and thrives in this temperature range), as well as several other issues.

Following the initial inspection OG’Z The Original Empanada Shop was informed where it needed to make improvements and that it would receive a re-inspection in 30 days. The 30-day window is a generous one as many restaurants are given as few as 10 days to make improvements. However, despite receiving 30 days, the restaurant was visited on October 10 and still registered seven Priority Violations.

Nearly all of the exact same violations were identified, including employees washing dishes then immediately returning to handle food without washing their hands, storing raw eggs and other proteins above ready-to-use foods, foods stored in the walk-in cooler with temperatures reading above 41 degrees, and hot-holding food testing below 135 degrees. However, this time around, while there were fewer foods testing in the “Danger Zone”, the restaurant had food being used that was a full month past the discard date. Foods have a seven-day window once opened. After seven days the food must be consumed or tossed out. Despite this, there were foods dating back to September 1 (on October 10). These foods were discarded at the time of the inspection.