Food for Thought Report 9.21 - KCBD NewsChannel 11 Lubbock

Whether your child's school cafeteria has one violation, five violations or is a top performer you can be sure every Thursday on NewsChannel 11 at 6 we'll dish out the details of the schools inspected.

Three Lubbock schools made the grade this week with perfect scores:

• Ballenger Headstart at 1110 40th,
• Stubbs Headstart at 3516 Toledo and
• Tubbs Elementary School at 3311 Bates

There were two top and two low performers in this week's Food for Thought. We start with the good news first.

Perfecto! After being a repeat low performer, Montelongo's at 3021 Clovis Road finally finds itself on top. They had zero critical violations making them a Food for Thought top performer.

A slice above! The deli at United Supermarket at 2630 Parkway Drive is also at the top, with zero critical violations.

Food for Thought 9.21 Here is a complete list of the restaurants and their violations for the week ending on 9/21/06.

Of the eight school cafeterias inspected this week, not all of them were flawless.

• Estacado High School at 1504 Itasca had an inaccurate thermometer in a reach-in cooler.
• Project Intercept at 1323 East 29th did not have a test kit to check sanitizer.
• Refrigerator thermometers were missing at Smylie Wilson Junior high at 4401 31st.
• Dented cans were found at Bean Elementary at 3001 Ave. N and Hodges Elementary at 5001 Ave. P.

Aramark School Support Services, who manages all of LISD's kitchens, released this comment, "Our top priority is to ensure that the food served at LISD is of the highest quality within the safest environment possible. We continuously train our managers and employees on proper techniques in food handling and food safety procedures. The violations that were found during the inspection were corrected on site." The report shows that as well.

Now to this week's low performing restaurants.

Krispy Kreme at 4301 S. Loop 289 had five critical violations.

• A hand washing sink was being used for other purposes besides washing hands.
• A hand washing sink was found out of soap.
• Powder sugar was stored outside behind the store. It was found wet and contaminated with rain water.
• Spray bottles containing unknown solutions were not properly labeled.
• Soda machine nozzles were found moldy and soiled. The smoothie machine was found soiled.

Management at Krispy Kreme told us, "We always strive to keep clean and do whatever we can to keep the customers happy." The report shows all violations were corrected at the time of the inspection.

Applebee's at 4025 S. Loop 289 is also on the low performing list with six violations.

• Food was not cooling properly.
• Mashed potatoes were found at 45 degrees, rice at 47 degrees, ham at 51 degrees and noodles were found at 63 degrees. Cold foods must be 41 degrees or colder. The report shows the reach-in cooler was holding at 56 degrees.
• An employee put on a new pair of gloves without first washing his hands.
• A personal drink was found without a lid on the food line.
• Unsound lemons and limes were found with ready to use lemons and limes.
• Multiple food contact surfaces were found unclean and not in good repair, including: bins used to store clean dishes, cracked bins and lids, soiled spoons, plates, salsa bowls, soiled kitchen utensils, can opener and scissors.

We contacted Applebee's, who forwarded all comments to their corporate office. They released this statement, "Applebee's success is based upon quality food and quality service. Our primary focus is food safety. We accept no less. Each critical violation received on the health inspection was corrected immediately, on site, and approved by the health inspector. We have ensured through subsequent inspections that all systems are in place and functioning properly . Frequent operations assessments ensuring food quality are part of our culture. It is our commitment to our guests that we meet and exceed all expectations established by the city, state and our own internal requirements."

The report shows all violations were corrected at the time of the inspection.