‘Black mold-like growth.’ Bad flan. What inspectors found at a Miami grocery store
Food kept at bacteria-breeding temperatures — a list that includes flan, bread pudding and chicharron — and general filth caused a West Miami-Dade grocery store to fail inspection last week.
Inspectors James Zheng and Catalina Ordonez will return to Bodeguita Mercado Cafeteria, 7403 Coral Way, in early January after the store got the lowest rating on Tuesday’s inspection, “Re-Inspection Required.”
Unlike restaurant inspectors from the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, Florida Department of Agriculture inspectors of food sellers can’t shut a place down for a failed inspection. They do have powers to level Stop Sales and Stop-Use Orders and Zheng and Ordonez certain did that Tuesday.
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Here area some of the problems they found:
▪ In the deli area and the kitchen area, “multiple live flies flying throughout food processing areas.”
▪ “Dust, debris, mold-like growth, old food residue and grease oil encrusted on the walls, beneath shelving units and tables and on the floor throughout the establishment.”
▪ People working in the food service, deli and the kitchen kitchen, “engaged in food preparation with no hair restraint.”
▪ In the same areas, employees were “observed not washing hands after touching the face/body, touching unclean equipment and returning to prepare and serve food items for customer orders.”
▪ Then again, there was “no handwash sink available where a food employee is cooking and prepping food” in the kitchen.
▪ “And, in the deli, the handwash sink next to the warewashing sink didn’t have soap or paper towels.”
▪ “Deli area slicer found with old food residue on the plate, blade guard and meat grip.”
▪ The steam wand on the coffee machine had been at work for more than four hours without being washed, rinsed and sanitized.
▪ Speaking of sanitizing, the processing area’s warewashing sink had a chlorine sanitizing solution below standards.
▪ Trays of cooked pork shoulders inside the backroom walk-in cooler sat uncovered, unprotected from any passing person’s saliva and mucus.
▪ Chicharron inside the steam table measured 83 to 95 degrees. That needed to be at 135 degrees or above. Stop Sale. Chicharron trashed.
▪ The retail display cold unit couldn’t get food under 41 degrees, as necessary for safe keeping. So, flan, bread pudding, cream cheese and yogurt all got smacked with Stop Sales and thrown in the trash. The cold unit got a visit from the repairman.
▪ In another part of the retail area, the raw shell eggs measured 54 degrees. Stop Sale. Huevos basura.
This story was originally published December 17, 2023 at 1:26 PM.
