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Refrigeration that failed to keep cold food cold and steam tables that failed to keep hot food hot were among the problems that caused several Merced County restaurants and other food places to fail health inspections in August.
Of 36 restaurants, markets, commissaries and other food businesses visited by inspectors from the Merced County Division of Environmental Health, three received “unsatisfactory” ratings because of health violations that were uncovered. That’s down from seven failed inspections at food establishments in July.
Four of those that earned “unsatisfactory” grades in July received passing scores in August reinspection visits after they corrected deficiencies.
Those receiving failing scores in August were Country Waffles and Courtyard Mimosas, both in Los Banos, and Valley Food Supermarket in Atwater. They will be subject to reinspections to ensure that violations are corrected.
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. Seventeen food businesses received satisfactory marks in July, and 16 received “good” scores — including five where no violations were found.
Summaries of the establishments that failed their inspections are:
- Country Waffles on West Pacheco Boulevard near I Street in Los Banos: An Aug. 1 inspection found food being served from a prep refrigerator that was 10 degrees warmer than needed to inhibit bacteria growth, forcing out-of-compliance food to be discarded; a unit holding hot vegetable soup was measured at 111 degrees, lower than the required 135 degrees or higher; food being stored in prep refrigerators that did not maintain a consistent temperature of 41 degrees or below, with ice being kept in the refrigerators to try to lower the temperature; knives being stored in a holder that had visible food debris; accumulations of grease and grime on several surfaces in the kitchen. The issues amounted to 16 violation points.
- Courtyard Mimosas on West Pacheco Boulevard near Nevada Avenue in Los Banos: An Aug 1 inspection included finding that bacon, sausage and other potentiall hazardous meats and sauces stored in a steam table that was not turned on, with the food more than 10 degrees lower than safe temperatures and voluntarily discarded; a repeat violation for a dishwashing machine was in use by staff even though it failed to dispense sanitizer; knives being stored in a holder with visible food debris; and a repeat violation for a leak under a three-compartment sink in a warewashing room. The various problems added up to 29 violation points.
- Valley Foods Supermarket on Atwater Boulevard near Shaffer Road in Atwater: An Aug. 19 inspection found hot water in the restroom measured at 80.5 degrees, compared to the required temperature of between 100 and 108 degrees for proper hand-washing; food from unapproved, unsafe or unverifiable sources; no paper towels or air hand dryer net to the handwashing sink in the meat room. The violations added up to 19 points.
Businesses that failed July inspections with unsatisfactory ratings but improved their scores in August were Las Delicias Restaurant on I Street in Los Banos, satisfactory; Buy N Save Market on 7th Street in Los Banos, good; the 7-Eleven convenience store on West Pacheco Boulevard in Los Banos, good; and Yogolicious on R Street in Merced, good.
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.
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