4 restaurants, food truck fail food safety inspections in Tri-Cities

The Benton Franklin Health District gave four failing grades in food safety inspections of restaurants and other establishments selling food in the Tri-Cities area Oct. 12-18.

The health district’s food safety team gave passing grades on 16 inspections, with 11 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 not keeping hot food hot enough or cold food cold enough, 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.

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

To participate in the health district’s food safety topics survey, go to bit.ly/BFHDfoodsafetysurvey.

Failed inspections

Andy’s Coffee Break, 1200 N. Columbia Center Blvd., Kennewick, Follow-up Oct. 17 (35 Red, 0 Blue)

Notes: Improper hand washing (hands not washed before putting on new gloves), inadequate handwashing facilities (handwashing sink was holding ice and debris).

Great Wall Super Buffet, 2400 N. Columbia Center Blvd., Richland, Routine Oct. 15 (45 Red, 0 Blue)

Notes: No certified food protection manager on staff, improper hand washing, inadequate sanitization (dishwasher sanitizer not at correct concentration and soft serve ice cream machine had mold and food debris in places not in contact with food).

Juanitos Foods, 1620 W. Clark St., Pasco, Routine Oct. 15 (60 Red, 5 Blue)

Notes: Lack of active managerial control, inadequate handwashing facilities (no paper towels at one hand wash sink and another was obstructed by equipment), improper shellstock identification procedures, improper raw meat handling procedures (raw meat slicers not washed and sanitized every four hours), improper cooling procedures (birria consomme, grilled tomatoes and salsa voluntarily discarded).

Tacos Sahuayo, 104 S. Oregon St., Pasco, Routine Oct. 18 (50 Red, 0 Blue)

Notes: No certified food protection manager on staff, inadequate handwashing facilities (water heater was turned off), improper cooling procedures (food including birria, cow tongue and trippa meat voluntarily discarded), lack of conformance with approved procedures.

Passed inspections

Benton County Corrections, 7122 W. Okanogan Place, Kennewick, Routine Oct. 17 (5 Red, 5 Blue)

Captain Gray Elementary School, 1102 N. 10th Ave., Pasco, Routine Oct. 17 (0 Red, 0 Blue)

Carniceria La Catrina, 2115 E. Lewis St., Pasco, Follow-up Oct. 17 (0 Red, 0 Blue)

Country Mercantile (Tamale), 232 Crestloch Road, Pasco, Follow-up Oct. 18 (0 Red, 0 Blue)

El Guerrero Hotdogs, 931 W. Court St., Pasco, Routine Oct. 16 (30 Red, 0 Blue)

Ellen Ochoa Middle School, 1801 E. Sheppard St., Pasco, Routine Oct. 18 (0 Red, 0 Blue)

Hot Beans Espresso, 2517 W. Sylvester St., Pasco, Routine Oct. 17 (5 Red, 0 Blue)

Juanitos Foods (Commissary), 1620 W. Clark St., Pasco, Routine Oct. 15 (0 Red, 0 Blue)

Lara’s Tacos (Mobile), 620 N. 28th Ave., Pasco, Routine Oct. 15 (0 Red, 0 Blue)

Robert Frost Elementary School, 1915 N. 22nd Ave., Pasco, Routine Oct. 17 (0 Red, 0 Blue)

Rowena Chess Elementary School, 715 N. 24th Ave., Pasco, Routine Oct. 17 (0 Red, 0 Blue)

Sageport Grille, 1633 Columbia Park Trail, Richland, Routine Oct. 17 (0 Red, 0 Blue)

Taqueria 3 Pueblos, 1212 N. Fourth Ave., Pasco, Follow-up Oct. 16 (0 Red, 0 Blue)

Taqueria El Marino, 605 N. Gum St., Kennewick, Routine Oct. 17 (0 Red, 0 Blue)

The Bistro at Grace Kitchen, 112 N. Second Ave., Pasco, Routine Oct. 17 (10 Red, 0 Blue)

Woody’s Bullpen Bar & Grill, 4128 W. Clearwater Ave., Kennewick, Routine Oct. 17 (25 Red, 0 Blue)

This story was originally published October 24, 2024 at 5:00 AM.