Food for Thought Report 5.22 - KCBD NewsChannel 11 Lubbock

City health inspectors had more that 40 places to check out this week. And this time a whole bunch of schools make the grade. We have almost a dozen schools looking smart this week. Let's see the a-b-c's of this edition of Food for Thought.

Food for Thought 5.22 Here is a complete list of the restaurants and their violations for the week ending on 5/22/03. More >>

Earning zero critical violations and perfect scores across the board are the following Lubbock schools:

• Alderson Academy at 219 Walnut
• Arnett Elementary at 701 East Queens
• Bozeman Elementary at 3101 East 2nd Street
• Cavazos Junior High at 210 North University
• Estacado High School at 1504 East Itaska
• Guadalupe Elementary at 101 North Avenue P
• Jackson Elementary 201 Vernon
• Mahon Elementary at 2010 Cornell
• Parkway Primary Academy at 406 North Zenith
• TTU Early Headstart at 515 North Zenith
• Wright Elementary at 1302 Adrian

The streak of Low Performing restaurants continues, and things are looking light on the top performing side of things.

It's no lie. Pinocchio's Pizza at 5044 Frankford Avenue tosses up a perfect score this week, making them a food for thought top performer. And this week, they're the only one.

We begin this week's Low Performing list at Benaglio's at 4210 82nd Street. Four critical violations were found. Violations including:

• Improper cold hold of potentially hazardous food products salad bar temperatures were found at 50 degrees or higher, specifically sprouts at 56 degrees, sea salad at 53 degrees, sliced eggs at 53 degrees and cheese at 55 degrees. Cold foods must be kept at 45 degrees or cooler.
• An employee was not using proper hand washing practices--the employee was using an apron to wipe hands.
• There was an improper date marking system--products must have an expiration date.
• Food contact surfaces were not cleaned--utensils that were meant to be cleaned were soiled.

The Manager at Benaglio's told NewsChannel 11 the health department does a great job and the restaurant's air conditioning had recently gone out, causing the temperatures on the salad bar to rise. He said the employee wiping their hands on the apron was a mistake, and the date marking violation involved a misunderstanding over health codes and the restaurant does a diligent job on date marking. The soiled equipment was a water scale that was thrown away in the presence of the inspector and their customers were never at risk. The report shows all critical violations were corrected on site.

Next it's Tio Jaime's Mexican Restaurant at 3017 34th Street with six critical violations.

1. Foods in the cold hold were not kept at 45 degrees or cooler.
2. Hot hold foods were not kept at a temperature of 140 degrees or warmer.
3. Ready to eat foods were not properly date marked.
4. There was evidence of insects in the prep area.
5. Dishes were not being properly sanitized.
6. Coolers must have accurate thermometers.

The Kitchen Manager at Tio Jaime's tells us all violations have been taken care of.

McDonald's at 1910 50th St. is next with six critical violations.

• A carton of liquid egg product was found at 62 degrees--cold foods must be at 45 degrees or cooler.
• An employee used hands to fill cups with ice--an ice scoop must be used to fill cups.
• Items in a cooler used to make burritos were unmarked.
• Accurate thermometers were not found in all coolers.
• Mold was found in the drink nozzles.
• There was no sanitizer test kit.

The Manager at McDonald's told NewsChannel 11 all violations were corrected on site, they go through safety checklists twice a day and the restaurant is on the up and up.

Finally Casa Ole' at 7020 Quaker gets seven critical violations including improper cold hold of a potentially hazardous food product.

• Cheese was found at 65 degrees. Cold food must be kept at 45 degrees or cooler.
• There was improper hot hold of potentially hazardous food products. Rice was found at 135 degrees, chicken was found at 87 degrees and beef at 102 degrees. Hot food must be kept at 140 degrees or warmer.
• Good hygiene practices were not being followed. Drinking containers were found throughout the kitchen area, there were open drink containers and there was evidence of employees eating in the kitchen.
• Cucumbers and green onions were found in unsound condition.
• Employees were found not properly handling ready to eat food products. Employees must wash hands then use hand sanitizer, gloves or utensils to handle ready to eat products.
• The hand washing facility in the kitchen had no soap.
• Toxic items were not properly stored. Sanitizer was found on the food prep surface and another toxic item was found stored above food and with dishes.

The Assistant Manager at Casa Ole' told me the restaurant has recently come under new management, specifically a new General Manager and Assistant Manager who have been sent to fix the problems there. He said everything had been taken care of. The report shows all critical violations have been corrected.