Food for Thought Report 8.25 - KCBD NewsChannel 11 Lubbock

There is one top performing school in Food for Thought this week. Ramirez Elementary at 702 Avenue T. The Ramirez kitchen staff keeps everything in tip top shape, they had zero critical violations.

Food for Thought 8.25 Here is a complete list of the restaurants and their violations for the week ending on 8/25/05.

Cavazos Junior High at 210 North University just missed the mark. The school received two critical violations.

• Single servings of milk were held at 55 degrees. Cold foods must be held at 45 degrees or cooler.
• An ice maker was soiled. Both violations were corrected on site.

Aramark School Support Services manages all of LISD's kitchens. They tell NewsChannel 11 the milk was intended to be disposed of when inspectors came. It was thrown out and was not intended for consumption. The ice machine was cleaned at the time of inspection.

Finally, we have Southwest Private School. The daycare had nine critical violations, some at their 3808 Quaker facility and others at a private home where food was being stored at 4409 38th Street. Health inspectors say they had to throw away more than 3,000 pounds of food from the 38th Street location. Violations there included:

• Food in a refrigerator was held at 60 degrees.
• There was evidence of insects: weevils and roaches.
• Rodent droppings were throughout the facility.

The 3808 Quaker facility received six critical violations:

• A staff member serving lunch did not wash hands after throwing away trash and touching the trash can.
• Some food in a refrigerator stored in yogurt and margarine containers was not properly labeled
• The packaging of yogurt and flour created a risk of contamination.
• Expired cheese was found in a refrigerator, milk and pudding were not date marked, and old food was stored in a classroom
• An open container of rat poison was on the floor behind a stove in the kitchen
• Staff members were re-using plastic spoons and using the same spoon to serve seconds to each child and tapping the spoon on plates they already ate from.

A manager at Southwest Private School tells NewsCjannel 11 they just took in another nursery school that burned down and they are in the middle of re-modeling. The food in the house next door belonged to a charity and was not intended for the children.

There are some popular restaurants on the low performer list that received a pile of violations from health inspectors, but we start off with the only one that received none. Papa John's pizza sits alone atop the top performer list. Located at 5206 82nd. Papa John's had a perfect health inspection.

Jumbo Joe's at 1520 Avenue Q is our first of three low performers. Jumbo Joe's had four critical violations.

• Ground beef was held at 125 degrees and mashed potatoes were held at 93 degrees. Hot foods must be held at 140 degrees or hotter.
• A hand sink was used as a dump sink
• Hot dogs, burritos, rice and cooked beans were not properly date marked.
• A reach-in cooler thermometer was not in good repair.

All critical violations were corrected on site, a manager at Jumbo Joe's did not return our calls.

Rosa's Cafe at 3115 50th is also a low performer. Rosa's received five critical violations.

• Employees were not washing their hands between job duties.
• Open-lided drink containers were found in the kitchen
• Wiping clothes stored outside of sanitizer were being used to wipe down countertops, creating a risk of cross contamination.
• Fly spray was stored in the dish area above bottles of honey.
• Food contacts surfaces were soiled.

All critical violations were corrected on site. A manager had no further comment.

Raspberry Garden Cafe and Coffeehouse is our final low performer this week. Located at 2501 50th Street, Raspberry Garden had five critical violations.

• Chicken salad was found at 55 degrees. Cold foods must be held at 45 degrees or cooler. Owner Amy Baker says she was using the timing method which allows potentially hazardous foods to be above temperature up to four hours. She says, "She (the health inspector) did not ask if we were under that four hours and she just gave us a critical violation. What we do now is put chicken salad in a small tin and deep down in the ice so it's always on temperature."
  
• Employees were not following proper hand washing procedures. Baker explains, "She carried a cutting board from the kitchen to the dishwasher and walked back and didn't wash her hands. We're doing the best we can to train employees on washing their hands.
  
• Eggs in their shells next to grapes created a risk of cross-contamination. Baker says, "I had a few cartons of eggs on this shelf. Probably had two or three bags of grapes in bags sitting here. There was no cross contamination occurring. The eggs were in the shells unbroken in the carton."
  
• Raspberry garden was also cited for inadequate date marking.
• Soiled food contact surfaces.

Baker says they have taken measures to correct both and they strive to be a safe and pleasant place to eat. She adds, "We're doing everything we can as a family and as the owners to make sure that happens."