Grocer inspections show bird poop in a Presidente, flies in a juicer, rodent poop
Rodents in one place, birds in two places and flies in an unusual place lowlight this listing of Gross Grocers, South Florida’s grocers who fail inspection.
In addition to the living violations, some places seemed to be averse to using that advance in infrastructure advance known as “running hot water.” That or they’re trying to stretch the lives of their hot water heaters at the expense of cleanliness standards.
(This is not to be confused with our weekly Sick and Shut Down List of South Florida restaurants that fail inspection and get closed. That posts on Mondays or Tuesdays each week and are from inspections by the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation.)
What follows comes from Florida Department of Agriculture inspections of supermarkets, convenience stores, food storage places and other food handlers. If you see a problem in an establishment, don’t email us. Click here and report it. We don’t decide who gets inspected or how strictly they get inspected. We report without passion or prejudice, but with a handbasket of humor.
In alphabetical order:
Diaz Supermarket, 13501 SW 268th St., South Miami-Dade: Like a little texture with your orange juice?
“Insects too numerous to count found flying inside and around orange juicer.”
Some folks see handwashing as a one-and-done thing. “Food employee did not wash hands and don new gloves to work with open foods after touching trash can.”
Management apparently didn’t feel it was necessary to have hot water or paper towels at the handwashing sinks, prep sinks or three-compartment sinks in the food service or kitchen areas. When this was pointed out, management provided both.
You know how gross that area is between your wall and the nearest kitchen fixture or appliance? “Clean knife stored in gap between wall and handwashing sink.”
“Rust found on knife blade used to cut produce on prep table.”
Trash bags were used to store cooked pork in a reach-in cooler. Cardboard boxes were used for cutting produce on the prep table. “Soiled cardboard box used as liner where deli meats are stored inside dairy reach-in cooler.”
Garden Food Mart, 1695 NW 183rd St., Miami Gardens: Smoking seems to be a big activity here and not just during breaks.
In the food service area, “an ashtray with cigarette ashes below table in service area. Inspector spoke to person in charge regarding tobacco use in the area.”
The backroom and retail areas had “floors with excess amounts of dirt, dust, debris and cigarette butts.”
In the backroom, the ice machine had a “chute with soil buildup.”
There was an open can of beans “without date marking and the person in charge had no idea when it was opened.” Into the garbage.
Haverhill Food Market., 5951 Haverhill Road, west palm beach: No animals, but there were open deli meats in the deli case cooler that had been open for more than seven days. Tossed.
Not much handwashing going on for those working in the backroom, seeing as how the handwash sink lacked soap and paper towels.
The deli slicer had a build up of food residue. In the food processing area, there was a “build up of great residue on walls and fixtures around the fryer and ventilation hoods, filters.”
Pickled eggs were stored at room temperature on a retail self-service shelf. But they didn’t have a Hazard Analyasis Critical Control Point (HACCP) plan to for making pickled eggs. Store employees tossed the pickled eggs and “stated that they will no longer be making any pickled eggs.”
Presidente Supermarket, 500 SW Eighth St., Miami: Another place where in a part of the store, “no hot water provided at hand sink during the beginning of inspection” but the hot water got turned on during the inspection.
Listed after that violation was “back room — bird droppings found on packages of corn flour in dry storage room.”
Then, there was the Tippi Hedren moment of “Live birds found perched on top of packages of corn flour and sodas.”
In the meat area, “heavy accumulation of dry food particles found on blades of meat tenderizer. Paper towels wrapped in tape used to protect handles to deli slicer found heavily soiled and unclean.”
Pork, turkey and ham in the deli display case weren’t cooled down enough. Basura.
In the meat area, nothing prevented splashing from the warewashing sink onto the prep table.
Also, “trash, food debris and dirt accumulated on floors by retail shelving produce processing area.” The same was said for the meat area, “under and around preop tables, warewash sinks and meat grinders and on floors around foods in dry storage.”
Rio Station Juice Bar, 20505 S. Dixie Hwy., Southland Mall, Cutler Bay: “Live bird observed flying above open air preparation area and landing on menus displays.”
OK, we can’t help it.
Perhaps there was confusion about rinsing lettuce. “Lettuce found in water in wash compartment with unclean utensils and dishes placed in rinse compartment of warewashing sink.”
No handwashing sink in the back room, no soap or paper towels at the handwashing sink by the warewashing sink.
Want a smoothie? The ice comes from a bin “found encrusted with mold-like grime on inner surface.” The backroom ice machine had “black mold-like grim found in encrusted on ice-making portion and interior housing of ice machine.” Both were hit with Stop Use Orders.
Chicken, beef and spinach empanadas got tossed because they weren’t kept warm enough and hot dogs, steak, milk and a bag of ready-to-eat chicken got trashed because they weren’t kept cool enough.
And, again, the hot water stinginess. “Water heater found turned off to the hand sink and ware wash sink during inspection.”
Rosy Super Convenient Store, 125 NW 62nd St., Miami: “Observed a live cat inside the store.” The cat was ejected and it clearly wasn’t doing its job anyway because...
“Observed multiple packages of brown sugar with evidence of being gnawed.” Uh-oh.
“Observed rodent excreta on multiple shelves where packed food is displayed.” There it is.
When you’ve got rodent regularity on shelves, “dust buildup throughout multiple shelves where food is stored” is kind of a minor violation you can sweep up along the way.
This story was originally published January 12, 2020 at 4:11 PM.
