Flies ‘too numerous to count’ among a Miami food facility’s inspection problems
Flies and filth caused a Miami food processor and grocer to fail state inspection last week, getting part of its business shut down in the process.
Agromex operates at 1477 NW 23rd St. in a 10-block wide, three-block long section of Allapattah packed with food importers, sellers and processors. All these places get checked by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, which inspects grocers, bakeries, food processors and packaged food sellers.
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Unlike restaurant inspectors from the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, FDACS inspectors don’t shut a place down for a failed inspection. But, they can put Stop Use Orders on areas and equipment in the business.
Here’s some of what Inspector Pablo Vaquer saw when he dropped by on Monday.
The processing room had “multiple flies, too numerous to count.” This brought a Stop Use Order down on the cheese cutting and repackaging room.
There were “large holes in the north wall of the processing room near the floor.”
An “accumulation of dirt and old food was on the floor under one of the tables in the processing room. Similarly, it was observed that the processing room handwash sink was dirty.”
And, that handwash sink’s drain pipe was “in disrepair, thus rendering said sink unusable.”
“Condensate from the air conditioning unit was conveyed with a hose into the warewash sink. Furthermore, there was a dark green substance in the warewash sink near the condensate exit from said hose.”
Also, though company president Aiza Moralez registered Agromex with the state as a corporation in March 2018, it wasn’t registered with the FDA as a food facility during this inspection, the June 6, 2023 inspection or the June 29, 2022 inspection.
