A Miami-Dade bakery kept food in restroom, and had roaches and flies. See the inspection
A 56-page inspection report laid out problems at a popular Miami Springs bakery, including roaches, flies and food stored in the employee restroom.
Of the 56 PDF pages, 48 were devoted to Stop-Use Orders dropped on Bella Bakery, 375 N. Royal Poinciana Blvd., during a Florida Department of Agriculture inspection last Thursday. Bella Bakery received “Re-Inspection Required,” the worst result on an Ag Department inspection.
READ MORE: Mold on food was one of the problems at this Miami-Dade Fresh Market
Restaurant inspectors from the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation can shut down establishments. Ag Department inspectors can only drop Stop Sales on food items or Stop-Use Orders on equipment or areas.
And Inspector Guisella Uribe made use of both of those. Here are some of the food safety problems Uribe found:
▪ “Food establishment is operating without a valid 2024 food permit.”
▪ The person in charge was “unable to respond correctly to food safety questions relevant to their food operation.”
▪ “Numerous live black flies flying through all the various processing areas in the food establishment.”
▪ But what caused a monsoon of Stop-Use Orders was “live roaches found crawling on the left side of the large oven located in the kitchen area and on the floor in the food service area.”
Stop-Use Orders hit the oven, stove, two microwaves, two fryers, two hot holding units, three blenders, coffee grinder, orange juice machine, milk dispenser, braising pan, deli slicer, two sandwich press grills, the ice machine, the ware wash sink, scale, the wrapping station, the warmer, and the open processing parts of the kitchen and food service areas.
All were released back into play after they were cleaned and sanitized.
▪ Rice, evaporated milk, beans and single service containers were “found stored inside of unisex employee restroom.” Having food or food-contact items stored in a bathroom is a no-no.
▪ “Employee unisex restroom opens directly into the kitchen area where the oven and proofer are located.” Bella Bakery constructed a vestibule.
▪ In food service and kitchen areas, “food employees were observed not washing hands between entering and exiting the processing areas, touching unclean equipment, handling money and returning to serve food items for customer orders.”
▪ In the same areas, “food employees observed wearing gloves to handle food items, entering and exiting the food preparation areas, touching unclean equipment, handling money and returning to serve food items for customer orders without changing gloves between changing gloves between changing tasks and after gloves become contaminated.”
▪ “Heavy, dried-on milk accumulated on steam wand that was in use after more than four hours without being cleaned.”
▪ Food items in the hot holding unit need to be at 135 degrees or above. Not up to temperature snuff were ham empanadas (108 degrees), chicken empanadas (107 degrees), Jamaican beef patties (103), ham and cheese sandwich (125), ham croquetas (125), chicken croquetas (123), pork sandwich (106), black beans (105), pork chops (106) and beefsteak (107). All got hit with Stop Sales and trashed.
▪ Neither the food service area nor the kitchen had a probe thermometer to measure the hot and cold holding temperatures.
▪ The problem was the hot holding unit, which had an ambient temperature of 129 degrees. This was hit with a Stop-Use Order until it was fixed.
▪ French bread, plantain chips, portions of cooked pork, beef, rice and beans “displayed within customer reach were found missing all labeling requirements.” They’ll be off the shelves and available by request going forward.
▪ People working with food in the kitchen and food service areas “were not wearing hair restraints while engaged in open food handling.”
▪ “Black, wet wiping cloths on the prep table in front of the oven weren’t held in sanitizer between uses.”
This story was originally published March 14, 2024 at 4:51 PM.
