Roaches cause a Hialeah restaurant-grocery to lose most food privileges
Running roaches started food flowing into the garbage Monday at a Hialeah restaurant and grocery store after a state inspection.
What stopped at Nattal — Coffee, Food, Market: all open food processing.
Despite an all-day menu, Nattal, connected to the Westar gas station at 875 E. 49th St., gets inspected by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services as a convenience store. So, unlike a restaurant inspected by the Florida Department of Business & Professional Regulation, failing an inspection doesn’t close Nattal.
READ MORE: Roach on onions. Rodents in the kitchen. Miami and Palm Beach restaurant issues
But inspector Caridad Delgado brought a hurricane of stop use orders and stop sales that smashed normal operations at Nattal.
“The Stop Use Orders issued for all open food processing and all equipment and utensils will not be released until the following corrections have been made,” the inspection said: “roach infestation has been eradicated and all equipment and utensils are properly cleaned, sanitized and verified.”
The consequences of another roach-heavy inspection also were made clear on this inspection.
“If evidence of pest infestation is observed on the next inspection, a Stop Use Order will be issued on all receiving areas of the establishment and the establishment will no longer be allowed to receive additional food items,” the inspection said. “A Stop Use Order of all processing equipment will be issued, and a Stop Sale Order of all exposed food items will be issued until the infestation is eradicated.”
That order in the food processing area came down after Inspector Delgado saw “numerous live roaches found under the three-compartment sink, fryer, stove, preparation table and inside the walls.”
Getting hit by stop sales because they were “inside the reach-in hot case contaminated by roaches”: media noche; mini media noche; cheese, quava and coconut pastelitos; panceda de pollo; pan de bono; tornando de queso; ham and cheese, beef, spinach and chicken empanadas; stuffed meat potatoes; stuffed yuca; chicken and bacalo croquetas; colombiana de carne.
Inside the steam case, also adjudged as “contaminated by roaches”: meat soup, black beans, steak, chicken tenders, chicken wings; chicharrón, fries, plantains, boiled eggs, rice, sausages, chicken sandwiches, an egg sandwich. Stop sales on all.
The sale of deli meats, cheese, tomatoes, onions, pickles, sausages and salami in a side prep table were halted because of roaches. Among the deli meats, ham and salami got double hit: No date marking on when they had been opened and “food employees were not able to determine when they were opened.”
Even with the roach problem, a container of sugar in the food processing area wasn’t covered.
“Accumulation of old food debris on floors throughout food processing area.”
In the backroom area, “multiple open packages of ham and cheese, meat and spinach empanadas were removed from their packaging and stored in direct contact with plastic shopping bags inside the reach-in freezer display unit.” Plastic shopping bags aren’t food grade material.
“The deli slicer’s blade guard and tooth area had old food debris and soil buildup.”
A stop use also hit a cutting board “with deep grooves/cuts that can no longer be effectively cleaned and sanitized.”
An employee “engaged with food processing without washing hands and changing gloves after re-entering the processing area.”
The backroom area’s handwash sink didn’t have soap or paper towels.
The food service area’s handwash sink didn’t have a splash guard preventing water, soap and whatever’s been washed off dirty hands from splashing on a blender and single use items.
“Wet wiping cloths found on preparation tables weren’t held in sanitizer between uses.”
“Grease and debris on the floor under ovens and fryers” in the kitchen.
