SPRINGFIELD – A Hibachi restaurant in the capital city has once again racked up nearly 20 health code violations.
Mr. Hibachi at 1066 E. Ash St., the same place which previously stored knives in walls, was once again found to be storing a knife between pans and the wall inside of the prep cooler next to the front entry of the kitchen during a routine inspection on April 1.
The inspector also found the restaurant to be storing insecticide on top of fish fry bags and a pair of headphones on top of rice.
Other violations included no probe thermometers for meats, non labelled white powders in the back, incorrectly stored mops and excessive cleaning needed.
Following the inspection, no follow ups were conducted in April at the location.
In April, 235 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 counted.
Here are the Sangamon County restaurants that received 10 or more violations from the health department during the month of April.
Mimosa
Location: 4201 Wabash Ave., Springfield
Date/inspection type: April 21, routine inspection
What: Inspection found 18 violations, nine risk factor.
Notes from inspection: Left at the top as a heading note from the inspector on duty during the inspection, the employees failed a significant number of priority and priority foundation violations observed during the visit and could not demonstrate proper knowledge of food safety and the prevention of foodborne illness.
Upon arrival, the plumbing at the kitchen’s handwashing sink was observed in complete disrepair. A large portion of the drainpipe was missing, allowing for wastewater to flow onto the floor and counter below. The facility was not aware of the leak, which brought into question if handwashing is occurring as frequently as necessary.
The restaurant was also observed bare handing ready-to-eat foods, improperly storing foods in refrigerated units, insufficient food handler certificates, improperly storing foods on the floor and not managing time control for food. Out of eight employees, no handwashing took place during the cooking process.
Mouse droppings were observed on a pan that also stores canned good items in the dry storage area.
A follow up inspection was held on April 24 and still found mouse droppings, improper food storage and issues with washing hands. A second re-inspection was conducted on May 1, and no notes were left by the inspector.
Main Gate Bar and Grill
Location: 2143 N. 11th St., Springfield
Date/inspection type: April 9, routine inspection
What: Inspection found 13 violations, six risk factor.
Notes from inspection: Bare handling of food seems to be a recurring issue, as at Main Gate, the operator of the kitchen was observed without gloves to be handling cheese slices. The inspector also noted the bar hand sink was obstructed with garbage cans.
No probe thermometer was available in the building, which is key to measuring the internal temperature of foods during the cooling process.
Other violations included a bag of onions and a box of pizza sauce observed to be stored in the hallway going into the kitchen under the handwashing sink.
A follow up inspection took place on April 20; no notes were left by the inspector.
212 China
Location: 12 E. South Grand Ave., Springfield
Date/inspection type: April 8, routine inspection
What: Inspection found 13 violations, five risk factor.
Notes from inspection: The inspector found no date markings on the food at the restaurant. The inspector also found bleach in use the facility which is not labeled for use on food-contact surfaces. No thermometer was present in the building, and two dead insects were found during the inspection. One of the dead insects was found in the back near the walk-in cooler and the other was beside the chest freezer. Inspectors also noted rodent droppings present under shelving and on windowsills in the facility.
Two spot checks at the restaurant occurred on April 13 and April 21 with no notes left.
Casa Real
Location: 1121 Lincolnshire Blvd., Springfield
Date/inspection type: April 23, routine inspection
What: Inspection found 12 violations, six risk factor.
Notes from inspection: The floor of the walk-in freezer was observed with chunks of ice build up, but most violations surrounded hand washing and the improper care of the sinks at the restaurant.
The ceiling tile above the mop sink to be damaged and partially missing, a stones throw away from the hand sink which was both missing paper towels, and could not produce hot water.
A reusable cloth was placed atop the paper towel dispenser. An employee stated that the cloth was in use as a replacement, which is not acceptable. Employees were using bare hands to turn off faucet handles after washing hands and to ensure that hands are getting washed properly, a barrier must be used to turn off faucet handles to prevent recontamination.
A follow up inspection occurred on April 30 with no notes.
Star 66
Location: 3752 Camp Butler Road, Springfield
Date/inspection type: April 6, routine inspection
What: Inspection found 11 violations, six risk factor.
Notes from inspection: Date marking was absent from nearly all of the time controlled food items through the facility. Some of the foods included cut tomatoes, potatoes, fish and fowl. The food had to be discarded during the inspection. Besides raw eggshells found at ambient temperature and not stored in a cool environment, most incidents recorded in the inspection revolved around bare hand contact with served food.
Bella Trattoria
Location: 100 West Main, Williamsville
Date/inspection type: April 17, routine inspection
What: Inspection found 10 violations, three risk factor.
Notes from inspection: Raw shell eggs were observed being stored directly above cooked lasagna in the large standing refrigerator at the beginning of the cook line while white powder under the prep table by the pizza dough mixer was unlabeled.
Three cans of split black olives were observed dented in the middle of the can shelf, while several cans were found stored in the prep cooler such as mackerel, including open cans. Opened canned foods must be placed in an appropriate container, not inside the prep cooler, to avoid potential botulism contamination, according to the Public Health Department.
A follow up inspection was held on April 21, with no notes left by the inspector on duty.
Ramona Tacos + Mezcal
Location: 4403 Yucan Drive, Springfield
Date/inspection type: April 24, routine inspection
What: Inspection found 10 violations with four risk factor.
Notes from inspection: Most violations at Ramona centered around cleaning and chemical dish washing components compared to other spots on the list.
The soap dispenser at the bar’s handwashing sink was observed empty and replaced with a new bag of soap, while the chemical dish washing machine was tested at 0 parts per million of chlorine. On chlorine, the chlorine test strips that the facility had available were completely soiled and were not usable, making sanitizer bucket concentration hard to check.
There weren’t any sanitizer buckets present in the kitchen area, despite the facility being in full operation. Sani solutions were prepared and placed at each station to correct the violation.
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: Inspectors find dead insects, rodent droppings in Springfield kitchens
Reporting by Claire Grant, Springfield State Journal-Register / State Journal-Register
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