19 restaurants, school, others fail weekly food safety inspections in Tri-Cities area

The Benton Franklin Health District gave 19 failing grades in food safety inspections of restaurants and other establishments selling food in the Tri-Cities area March 9 to 15.

The worst score was 135 of the more serious red points at a Tri-Cities restaurant. A school district also failed its inspection.

The health district’s food safety team gave passing grades on 38 inspections, with 19 of those awarded 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 followup 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 improper temperature control of food, lack of adequate handwashing or bare-hand contact with foods.

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.

Inspection results are posted online so residents can look up the status and the details of any violations of individual restaurants or check other businesses.

Go to bit.ly/BFHDinspections. Click on the business name and then on the date of the inspection on the right half of the next page. Look for the “Violations” tab.

Failed inspections

3 Pueblos Meat Market (Food Service, Meat, Store), 1212 N. 4th Ave., Pasco, Routine March 14 (80 Red, 0 Blue)

Notes: Lack of active managerial control (too many red points), food worker cards not 100%, inadequate handwashing facilities (no warm water in one employee restroom), improper cooling procedures, improper hot holding (<130°F), improper cold holding (>45°F).

Black Corn Street, 3616 W. Court St., Pasco, Routine March 13 (50 Red, 0 Blue)

Notes: Improper hand washing, inadequate handwashing facilities (no paper towels at handwashing sink), improper reheating procedures for hot holding.

Boiada Brazilian Grill, 8418 W. Gage Blvd., Kennewick, Follow-up March 12 (50 Red, 0 Blue)

Notes: Inadequate handwashing facilities (bar sink water not hot), raw meat improperly stored, improper hot holding (<130°F), improper cold holding (>45°F — some items on buffet not cold enough).

Carniceria El Sol, 623 Ninth St., Benton City, Follow-up March 14 (35 Red, 0 Blue)

Notes: Inadequate handwashing facilities (no paper towels or dispenser at handwashing sink), improper hot holding (<130°F).

CoffeeNow, 2504 Manufacturing Lane, Richland, Routine March 15 (60 Red, 0 Blue)

Notes: Improper hand washing (water heater heater not turned on), inadequate handwashing facilities, improper hot holding (<130°F).

Donitas Restaurant, 1107 W. Lewis St., Pasco, Follow-up March 12 (25 Red, 0 Blue)

Notes: Improper cooling procedures.

El Laguneros (Mobile), 312 N. 20th Ave., Pasco, Routine March 10 (50 Red, 0 Blue)

Notes: Lack of active managerial control (no certified food protection manager), improper hand washing, inadequate handwashing facilities (cart was at a temporary event with inadequate temporary handwash setup — operations halted until issue fixed), lack of conformance with approved procedures.

Flight Tap & Table, 502 Swift Blvd., Richland, Routine March 15 (135 Red, 0 Blue)

Notes: Lack of active managerial control (no certified food protection manager on staff), improper hand washing, bare hand contact with ready-to-eat foods (lime for drink garnish), inadequate handwashing facilities (no handwashing sink in upstairs bar area), improper hot holding (<130°F), room temperature storage or improper use of time as a control, improper cold holding (>45°F), lack of conformance with approved procedures.

Fresh Juice Me, 7425 W. Clearwater Ave., Kennewick, Routine March 13 (35 Red, 0 Blue)

Notes: Lack of active managerial control (no certified food protection manager on staff), inadequate handwashing facilities (sink temporarily blocked), not properly disposing of potentially unsafe food (small amount of too warm milk on counter that employee said they intended to discard), lack of conformance with approved procedures.

Fresh Leaf Co., 1080 George Washington Way, Richland, Routine March 14 (35 Red, 5 Blue)

Notes: Food worker cards not 100%, not properly disposing of potentially unsafe food (deli meats date marked passed seven days), improper hot holding (130°F-134°F), improper cold holding (>45°F), lacking a proper consumer advisory (no written advisory for undercooked eggs).

Hedges Family Estate, 53511 N. Sunset Road, Benton City, Routine March 14 (35 Red, 0 Blue)

Notes: Lack of active managerial control (no certified food protection manager on staff), inadequate handwashing facilities (no soap at one sink), lack of conformance with approved procedures, variance not obtained for specialized processing methods (brewing kambucha).

Homewood Suites, 1060 George Washington Way, Richland, Routine March 14 (70 Red, 0 Blue)

Notes: Improper hand washing, not properly disposing of potentially unsafe food (expired deli meat), room temperature storage or improper use of time as a control, improper cold holding (>45°F).

Kahlotus School District, 100 W. Martin St., Kahlotus, Routine March 12 (60 Red, 5 Blue)

Notes: Lack of active managerial control (no certified food protection manager on staff), improper ill worker and conditional employee practices (workers unaware of illness reporting procedures), improper cooling procedures, accurate thermometer not provided or used.

Lucky Bao (Commissary use), 1415 George Washington Way, Richland, Routine March 15 (35 Red, 0 Blue)

Notes: Improper hand washing (worker used no soap), inadequate handwashing facilities.

Rancho Meat Market, 4903 Robert Wayne Drive, Pasco, Routine March 14 (40 Red, 0 Blue)

Notes: Not properly disposing of potentially unsafe food, improper hot holding (<130°F), lacking a proper consumer advisory.

Sandoval’s Market, 6930 Road 170 Mesa, Routine March 12 (80 Red, 15 Blue)

Notes: Lack of active managerial control (too many red violations), food worker cards not 100%, improper hand washing,inadequate handwashing facilities (handwashing sink 25 feet from some food handling areas), improper shellstock identification or parasite destruction procedures (no shellstock tags found for oysters), raw meat improperly stored, improper cooling procedures.

Tacos Mi Casita, 1208 20th Ave., Pasco, Routine March 14 (35 Red, 0 Blue)

Notes: Improper cooling procedures, lack of conformance with approved procedures.

Thai Co. The Iron Wok (Mobile), 7425 W. Clearwater Ave., Kennewick, Routine March 13 (45 Red, 0 Blue)

Notes: Lack of active managerial control (no certified food protection manager on staff), not properly disposing of potentially unsafe food (curry sauces kept longer than seven days), raw meat improperly stored, room temperature storage or improper use of time as a control.

Uptown Bar & Grill, 1373 George Washington Way, Richland, Routine March 15 (35 Red, 6 Blue)

Notes: Lack of active managerial control (no certified food protection manager on staff), food worker cards not 100%, inadequate handwashing facilities, raw meat improperly stored, improper chemical use (dish soap not labeled).

For a longer list of restaurants that passed their recent inspections, go to tricityherald.com.

This story was originally published March 21, 2024 at 12:12 PM.