8 restaurants, stores, food truck fail food safety inspections in Tri-Cities

The Benton Franklin Health District gave eight failing grades in food safety inspections of restaurants and other establishments selling food in the Tri-Cities area Oct. 19-25.

One Pasco eatery had a walk-in fridge that had been too warm for at least a day and discarded food.

The health district’s food safety team gave passing grades on 34 inspections, with 13 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

Auntie Anne’s Pretzels, 1321 N. Columbia Center Blvd., Kennewick, Routine Oct. 21 (45 Red, 5 Blue)

Notes: Inadequate handwashing facilities (items in sink blocking use), not properly disposing of potentially unsafe food (hot dogs marked two weeks past discard date, possibly because pan’s date sticker was not updated), improper hot holding (<130°F).

Basin City Hot Spot, 7380 Road 170, Mesa, Routine Oct. 22 (55 Red, 0 Blue)

Notes: No certified food protection manager on staff, improper hand washing (worker did not wash hands before putting on gloves and then washed hands three times for less than the required 10 seconds), improper hot holding (<130°F).

Candy Land Shop, 1321 N. Columbia Center Blvd., Kennewick, Routine Oct. 21 (45 Red, 0 Blue)

Notes: Improper hand washing (workers were using hand sanitizer rather than washing), inadequate handwashing facilities (handwashing sink was closed and blocked), lack of conformance with approved procedures.

La Cocina, 720 N. 20th Ave., Pasco, Routine Oct. 22 (75 Red, 0 Blue)

Notes: Lack of active managerial control, improper hand washing (worker did not wash hands before putting on gloves and then washed hands for 5 seconds without soap), inadequate handwashing facilities, improper cooling procedures, improper cold holding (>45°F — walk-in fridge was too warm for at least a day and beans, menudo, diced tomatoes, cooled meats and tamales were voluntarily discarded).

Mexi-King Taqueria, 306 W. Lewis St., Pasco, Follow-up Oct. 23 (85 Red, 0 Blue)

Notes: Improper cooling procedures, improper hot holding (<130°F — abobada meat voluntarily discarded), room temperature storage or improper use of time as a control (beans voluntarily discarded), lack of conformance with approved procedures.

The Original Pancake House, 424 Keene Road, Richland, Follow-up Oct. 24 (60 Red, 0 Blue)

Notes: Lack of active managerial control, food worker cards not 100%, improper hand washing (hands not washed when gloves changed), room temperature storage or improper use of time as a control.

Pizza Station, 238 N. Columbia Ave., Connell, Routine Oct. 24 (50 Red, 3 Blue)

Notes: No certified food protection manager on staff, improper cooling procedures, improper cold holding (>45°F), lack of conformance with approved procedures.

Uncle Jay’s Grocery and Deli, 305 N. Spokane Ave., Kahlotus, Routine Oct. 24 (35 Red, 16 Blue)

Notes: Not properly disposing of potentially unsafe food (various items in the grocery section had expiration dates in August or September 2024), improper hot holding (<130°F).

Passed inspections

Applebee’s, 43 Columbia Point Drive, Richland, Routine Oct. 22 (5 Red, 0 Blue)

Basin City Child Development Center, 281 First Ave., Mesa, Routine Oct. 22 (0 Red, 0 Blue)

Basin City Elementary School, 303 Bailie Blvd., Mesa, Routine Oct. 22 (20 Red, 0 Blue)

Bento Teriyaki, 61 Columbia Point Drive, Richland, Routine Oct. 22 (25 Red, 0 Blue)

Dax’s Bar & Grill, 1004 Lee Blvd., Richland, Routine Oct. 25 (5 Red, 0 Blue)

Dollar General (Store), 182 Hawthorne St., Connell, Routine Oct. 24 (0 Red, 0 Blue)

Edgar Brown Stadium-West, 725 N. 18th Ave., Pasco, Routine Oct. 25 (30 Red, 0 Blue)

Explosion de Sabor, 251 N. Columbia Ave., Connell, Routine Oct. 24 (15 Red, 5 Blue)

Fruta Rayada El Rey, 1321 N. Columbia Center Blvd., Kennewick, Routine Oct. 21 (10 Red, 5 Blue)

Heavenly Sweets, 104 S. Tacoma St., Pasco, Routine Oct. 19 (10 Red, 0 Blue)

Hong’s Mongolian, 1218 N. Columbia Center Blvd., Kennewick, Routine Oct. 24 (0 Red, 0 Blue)

Kaffrin’s Coffee, 257 N. Columbia Ave., Connell, Routine Oct. 22 (10 Red, 3 Blue)

Kahlua’s Bar and Lounge, 1901 N. Fourth Ave., Pasco, Routine Oct. 25 (15 Red, 0 Blue)

La Cocina (Kiosk), 720 N. 20th Ave., Pasco, Routine Oct. 22 (10 Red, 0 Blue)

Lee’s Tahitian Restaurant, 2724 W. Lewis St., Pasco, Follow-up Oct. 23 (0 Red, 10 Blue)

McDonald’s, 2202 W. Court St., Pasco, Routine Oct. 25 (0 Red, 0 Blue)

Mesa Elementary School, 200 E. Pepiot Road, Mesa, Routine Oct. 22 (0 Red, 0 Blue)

Mexi-King Taqueria, 306 W. Lewis St., Pasco, Follow-up Oct. 25 (0 Red, 0 Blue)

MOD Pizza Kennewick, 1659 N. Columbia Center Blvd., Kennewick, Routine Oct. 24 (10 Red, 0 Blue)

Restaurante El Asadero, 2318 W. Court St., Pasco, Routine Oct. 25 (5 Red, 0 Blue)

Sacajawea Elementary School, 535 Fuller St., Richland, Routine Oct. 25 (0 Red, 0 Blue)

Seven Eleven, 415 Wright Ave., Richland, Routine Oct. 25 (10 Red, 0 Blue)

Starbuck’s Coffee, 59 Columbia Point Drive, Richland, Routine Oct. 22 (0 Red, 0 Blue)

Super Mex El Pueblo Market, 720 N. 20th Ave., Pasco, Routine Oct. 22 (Bakery 25 Red, 0 Blue) (Meat 25 Red, 0 Blue) (Store 10 Red, 0 Blue)

Tacos El Cepillo (Mobile), 7150 Road 170, Mesa, Routine Oct. 22 (30 Red, 0 Blue)

The Pizza Box 509, 6481 W. Skagit Ave., Kennewick, Routine Oct. 21 (0 Red, 0 Blue)

Tumble in Bar & Stumble Out Grill, 237 N. Columbia Ave., Connell, Routine Oct. 24 (30 Red, 5 Blue)

Yoke’s Fresh Market, 454 Keene Road, Richland, Routine Oct. 24 (Bakery 0 Red, 0 Blue) (Coffee 0 Red, 0 Blue) (Deli 5 Red, 0 Blue) (Meat 0 Red, 0 Blue) (Store 0 Red, 0 Blue)