Moldy food & dirty ice: Latest Tri-Cities-area restaurant inspections

The Benton Franklin Health District gave eight failing grades for food safety inspections at restaurants and other food servers in the Tri-Cities area from April 18-24.

The health district’s food safety team gave passing marks on 29 inspections, with 17 of those earning perfect scores.

In the district’s routine inspections, businesses or organizations that receive at least 35 points for the more serious red violations are required to have additional inspections and must meet a tougher standard on those.

To pass follow-up inspections, they must have fewer than 25 red points and fewer than 10 repeat red points for previous issues.

Scores of 85 or more red points result in establishments remaining on probation until they pass two follow-up inspections, the first one within 72 hours.

Red violations are those most likely to cause food-borne illnesses, such as not keeping hot food hot enough or cold food cold enough, inadequate handwashing, bare-hand contact with foods or refrigerating meat in a way that could contaminate other food.

Blue violations are low risk factors related to the cleanliness and physical condition of an establishment.

No notice is given before the inspections.

Businesses may have separate inspections of business lines with different health safety risks, such as grocery sales and a deli that prepares food, with one business line passing and another failing.

Information about passed and failed inspections includes only licensed establishments. The health district also responds to complaints of unlicensed pop-up food vendors in Benton and Franklin counties.

To see more inspection results or details of the past week’s inspections, go to inspections.myhealthdepartment.com/bfhd.

For questions or complaints about food safety in Benton or Franklin counties, email contactusfoodsafety@BFHD.WA.GOV.

Food customers may take a survey at bit.ly/FoodSafetyConsumerSurvey, and owners and employees of food establishments may take a survey at bit.ly/FoodSafetyIndustrySurvey.

Failed inspections

Amarilis’s Meat Market, 1825 W. Court St., Pasco, Routine April 24 (45 Red, 0 Blue)

Notes: No certified food protection manager on staff; hands not washed as required (food worker did not wash hands before putting on gloves); food worker cards not 100%; inadequate handwashing facilities (cold water faucet not working, making water too hot to adequately wash hands at one sink).

Casa Rosita Taqueria, 618 Ninth St., Benton City, Routine April 23 (35 Red, 5 Blue)

Notes: Improper cooling procedures; cold holding temperatures >45°F (cooked chicken at 50°); food without date marking.

Curry In A Hurry And Pizza, 1915 N. Steptoe St., Kennewick, Follow-up April 23 (10 Red, 5 Blue)

Notes: Improper date marking for high risk food (open bag of sausage and small container of ham).

Divots Golf, 2450 N. Columbia Center Blvd., Richland, Follow-up April 23 (10 Red, 5 Blue)

Notes: Cold holding temperatures >45°F (soft cheeses, precooked beef and other foods in one fridge as warm as 58°); inadequate equipment for temperature control (fridges not working adequately).

King’s Cup Coffee, 3425 King Ave., Pasco, Routine April 20 (35 Red, 0 Blue)

Notes: Hands not washed as required (worker did not wash hands before scooping ice for a drink); toxic substances not properly identified (muti-purpose cleaner in unlabeled spray bottle).

Papa Ray’s, 245 N. Columbia Ave., Connell, Routine April 24 (45 Red, 5 Blue)

Notes: Potentially unsafe food (mold appeared to be starting to grow in food containers in cooler); raw meats not stored away from ready-to-eat food; cold holding temperatures >45°F (items on self-service salad bar too warm); toxic substances not identified (unlabeled cleaning solution in spray bottle); inadequate handwashing facilities (no towels at one handwashing sink); potential food contamination (what appeared to be dirt or mold in ice in soda ice bin — possibly from recent cleaning of soda machine above it).

Subway, 4820 N. Road 68, Pasco, Routine April 21 (50 Red, 10 Blue)

Notes: Hands not washed as required (food worker did not wash contaminated hands before putting on gloves to work with ready-to-eat food); food worker cards not 100%; toxic substances not property identified (water to spray bread was in containers marked for deli slicer cleaner – containers were discarded); inadequate handwashing facilities (one handwashing sink had items blocking it).

Yummie Pho, 7520 W. Clearwater Ave., Kennewick, Follow-up April 23 (15 Red, 5 Blue)

Notes: No consumer advisory on menu for raw or undercooked foods; lack of conformance with approved procedure.

Passed inspections

Bonaventure of Tri-Cities, 1800 Bellerive Drive, Richland, Routine April 22 (25 Red, 5 Blue)

Brewminatti, 713 Sixth St., Prosser, Routine April 23 (0 Red, 0 Blue)

Burger King, 2407 W. Court St., Pasco, Routine April 24 (0 Red, 0 Blue)

Burlesque Brew, 5303 W. Metaline Ave., Kennewick, Routine April 24 (20 Red, 3 Blue)

Cafe Con Arte, 430 W. Columbia St., Pasco, Routine April 24 (20 Red, 0 Blue)

Carl’s Jr., 700 Wine Country Road, Prosser, Routine April 23 (0 Red, 0 Blue)

Ceci’s Tacos, 306 W. Lewis St., Pasco, Routine April 21 (30 Red, 0 Blue)

Connell Elementary School, 1001 W. Clark St., Connell, Routine April 24 (0 Red, 0 Blue)

Connell High School, 1100 W. Clark St., Connell, Routine April 24 (0 Red, 0 Blue)

Desert Heat, 707 W. Court St., Pasco, Routine April 20 (5 Red, 0 Blue) (Caterer 0 Red, 0 Blue)

DQ Grill & Chill, 3250 Duportail St., Richland, Routine April 24 (25 Red, 0 Blue)

Dutch Bros Coffee, 6429 Keene Road, Richland, Routine April 24 (0 Red, 0 Blue)

Edison Elementary School, 201 S. Dawes St., Kennewick, Routine April 21 (0 Red, 0 Blue)

Hawthorne Elementary School, 3520 W. John Day Ave., Kennewick, Routine April 21 (10 Red, 0 Blue)

Lincoln Elementary School, 4901 W. 21st Ave., Kennewick, Routine April 23 (0 Red, 0 Blue)

Love’s Travel Stop, 700 Wine Country Road, Prosser, Routine April 23 (0 Red, 0 Blue)

Maverik, 3520 Keene Road, Richland, Routine April 24 (0 Red, 0 Blue)

McDonald’s, 4810 Road 68, Pasco, Routine April 21 (0 Red, 0 Blue)

North Korners, 52 E. Vineyard Drive, Pasco, Routine April 21 (10 Red, 5 Blue) (Store 0 Red, 0 Blue)

Nuevo Amanecer, 1411 N. Fourth Ave., Pasco, Routine April 20 (5 Red, 0 Blue)

Phoenix High School, 1315 W. Fourth Ave., Kennewick, Routine April 23 (0 Red, 0 Blue)

Ray Reynolds Middle School, 9507 Burns Road, Pasco, Routine April 20 (10 Red, 0 Blue)

Ridgeview Elementary School, 7001 W. 13th Ave., Kennewick, Routine April 23 (0 Red, 0 Blue)

Robert Olds Junior High School, 1051 W. Clark St., Connell, Routine April 24 (0 Red, 0 Blue)

Rocco’s Pizza, 7911 W. Grandridge Blvd., Kennewick, Routine April 23 (20 Red, 0 Blue)

Sage Crest Elementary School, 6411 W. 38th Ave., Kennewick, Routine April 23 (0 Red, 0 Blue)

Tacos El Cafetal, 720 W. Lewis St., Pasco, Routine April 21 (10 Red, 0 Blue)