SPRINGFIELD – Food safety matters no matter what is plated up at a restaurant, but some dishes should have extra caution when using raw ingredients.
On Feb. 6, Happy Sushi at 846 E. South Grand Ave. had a routine health inspection, which found food operators were unable to communicate basic food handling related to serving rice and raw fish – incredibly high-risk foods for causing illness if not properly handled.
The fish used by the business were purchased from Sacramento Drive in Chicago and did not have letters of guarantee for parasite destruction inside the fish, which is required to serve raw sushi. Some fish containers, notably a salmon container, were found without any date markings for timeframe to eat.
The inspector also noted dead pests below the waiting station, the water heater and beneath the toaster oven.
The inspection resulted in 21 Sangamon County health code violations. Of those 21, four were repeated violations from previous inspections.
Three more inspections and spot checks were held over the rest of the month with two more violations reported, including no thermometers being present and not enough test strips to verify Chlorine sanitizer concentration.
In February, over 200 establishments across Sangamon County were visited by the Public Health Department.
How violations work
Food establishments are inspected by the Sangamon County Department of Public Health on an annual schedule that is determined by assigned risk type. The risk types are high, medium, or low risk, as defined by the Illinois Food Service Sanitation Code. These are determined by the complexity of food preparation taking place at the facility. Routine inspections are conducted unannounced. Follow up and complaint inspections are conducted as needed.
Critical violations concern hygiene, food temperatures, sanitizing procedures, and cross contamination. Non-critical violations concern the maintenance and cleanliness of a facility. Repeat violations are not taken into the official tally.
Here are the Sangamon County restaurants that received more than 10 violations from the health department during the month of February.
Trustwell Living of Springfield
Location: 2451 W. White Oaks Drive, Springfield
Date/inspection type: Feb. 2, routine inspection
What: Inspection found 16 violations, eight risk factor
Notes from inspection: It isn’t often an assisted living facility receives more than even five violations in a month. According to notes left by an inspector, multiple incidents of food handlers switching tasks and donning gloves without handwashing was only part of the violations noted.
Another notable violation included no date marking being used across the facility, which means foods opened and prepared had no way of being categorized within the past seven days for safety. The inspector also observed the facility’s heat measuring dish puck to be nonoperational, while the single standing cooler in the kitchen deteriorated and used duct tape to hold it in place.
Two follow up inspections for education and reinspection took place on Feb. 12 with no notes.
The Taco Joint
Location: 710 S. Grand Ave., Springfield
Date/inspection type: Feb. 24, routine inspection
What: Inspection found 12 violations, seven risk factor
Notes from inspection: A violation which has appeared so far in every inspection up to this point has been employees improperly washing hands. An employee was observed washing hands and turning off the faucet without using a barrier and was only one violation.
Other violations included canned food in the dry storage with dents, uncovered foods left too close to the handwashing sink, no meat probe on hand in the kitchen to probe meat for internal temperature and no ambient thermometer was present at the prep table and the cooler.
Fairgrounds Cafe
Location: 1923 N. Peoria Road, Springfield
Date/inspection type: Feb. 25, routine inspection
What: Inspection found 11 violations, eight risk factor.
Notes from inspection: An employee was observed to go outside with gloves on and then return to the cook-line and continue food preparation. Then another employee went outside with gloves before returning to the kitchen to continue cooking. Improper storage was also noted during the inspection, with raw chicken wings stored above lemons and diced tomatoes, which could lead to drip and cross contamination.
QDOBA
Location: 2320 Wabash Ave., Springfield
Date/inspection type: Feb. 2, routine inspection
What: Inspection found 11 violations, five risk factor
Notes from inspection: Once again, inspectors on duty observed an employee fail to hand wash before donning new gloves, which poses a cross contamination risk. At the sinks, inspectors also observed the front service hand sink to have a steady freshwater leak. This water is being surveyed directly to the drain within the sink basin.
Wastewater was found leaking onto the floor under the triple sink which needs repair. The plumbing is propped up with a crate and a sodden rag. The flooring of the dish area was heavily soiled with wastewater.
Soy Oaxaca
Location: 2 W. Old State Capitol Plaza, Springfield
Date/inspection type: Feb. 27, routine inspection
What: Inspection found 10 violations, six risk factor
Notes from inspection: Multiple foods were found exposed to contamination from improper packaging during the inspection; tortillas stored open in grocery bags, open cans of tomato in the bottom of the cooler and raw pig’s feet found above empanadas in the prep cooler were just some to note. There was a bottle of NyQuil observed to be on a shelf in the kitchen next to a package of tortillas, which was voluntarily discarded after education was shared that toxic materials should never be near food in the service line.
Other violations include rat droppings observed by the inspector in the basement of the building, near the water heater and ice machine. The basement of the facility has a history of a rodent issue and a follow-up inspection scheduled for March 13 resulted in no notes left by the inspector.
Claire Grant writes about business, growth and development and other news topics for The State Journal-Register. She can be reached at CLGrant@usatodayco.com; and on X (Formerly known as Twitter): @Claire_Granted
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Dead pests, rat droppings found in Springfield kitchens in February
Reporting by Claire Grant, Springfield State Journal-Register / State Journal-Register
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