News of public record: Guernsey County restaurant inspections

The following are restaurant inspections with critical violations, as conducted by the Guernsey County Health Department from March 4 to 8.

March 5

Subway Buffalo, 11821 Cklay Pike Road, Buffalo. Follow-up inspection. Rodent droppings throughout the facility including storage and food preparation areas.

March 7

Marathon Store #1484, 64516 Wintergreen Road, Lore City. The person in charge (PIC) was not knowledgeable about proper washing, rinsing and sanitizing procedures. The handwashing sink is being used to wash coffee pots. According to the PIC, coffee pots are being washed in a handwashing sink, but not sanitized. The three-compartment sink needs to be made accessible immediately. Until the sink is made accessible, coffee and slushy machines need to be put out of service. A green garden hose was connected to the utility sink and is being used to add water to the slushy mix for the frozen beverage machine. The facility must immediately cease using the utility sink for beverage purposes.

The Forum, 2205 Southgate Parkway, Cambridge. Follow-up inspection. The PIC did not ensure employees were properly maintaining temperatures of time and temperature-controlled for safety (TCS) foods during hot and cold storage. Hot and cold TCS food throughout the facility is still not being monitored. The PIC is still not ensuring that employees are washing their hands. The manager indicated he didn't understand why waitresses couldn't use hand sanitizer. I advised him that sanitizer is supposed to be used after hands are washed and not in place of washing hands because of the dirt, food and bacteria waitresses are exposed to cleaning off tables. The manager indicated he would "agree to disagree" regarding washing hands and sanitizer use. Employees throughout the facility were not washing their hands when required: waitresses were clearing tables and not washing their hands before handling clean plates, the dishwasher was handling dirty dishes and did not wash hands before handling clean dishes, and food employees were switching tasks and not washing hands. A waitress in the waitress area was touching her face and then handling clean dishes. Hands must be washed after being contaminated. Not one employee was observed washing their hands during the approximate 90-minute inspection. Food employees in the food prep area were handling ready-to-eat foods with their bare hands. One employee was picking out pickles and another was preparing a salad with their bare hands. Two sinks in the kitchen area are being used for handwashing and prepping food. According to the manager, sinks are used to dump food also. Packaged bread is not labeled with ingredients. Raw turkey was being thawed in a pan above Kopanisti. A bowl was sitting in rice and a bag of shredded carrots was sitting in lettuce. A dirty wiping cloth was sitting in a metal food pan in the prep unit. Lasagna on the steam table registered 117 F. TCS foods must be held at 135 F or above. Lasagna sitting on the prep table registered 55-59 F. Cole slaw in the prep unit registered 46 F. Cheeses in the prep unit next to the grill registered 46 F. TCS food must be held at 41 F or below. Two large pans of dolmades in cooler were dated Feb. 24. According to the label, the dolmades were 14 days old and should have been discarded after seven days. I advised a manager the food needed to be discarded immediately and he indicated that the other manager would be upset. He approached the conversation and asked if the food could be frozen and I advised him not after it had expired. I advised him again the dolmades must be thrown away and the containers were taken to the dirty side of the dishwashing area but were not discarded. Several TCS foods in the cooler were not date marked such as sausage, lettuce, lasagna, dolmades, and Kopanisti. Wooden platters used for fajita pans and wooden cutting boards were cracked, warped and damaged.

March 8

Oma's #1 LLC, 755 N Seventh St., Cambridge. The handwashing sink was not operational; the PIC states he had temporarily turned off the sink unit. Ground beef patties in the refrigeration unit and ice chest were 44.9 F and 47 F respectively. TCS foods must be cold-held at 41 degrees or below.

For further information on inspection reports or to view detailed reports visit https://www.guernseycountyhealthdepartment.org .

This article originally appeared on The Daily Jeffersonian: News of public record: Guernsey County restaurant inspections