Each month the Harford County Health Department conducts routine inspections of 1,893 food service facilities (936 permanent food service facilities and 957 temporary food service facilities). Some pass, some fail. These are their stories…
Below are all the critical health inspection violations for Harford County in April 2012:
7-Eleven Store #11633
1818 Emmorton Road
Bel Air, MD 21015
Violation: Potentially hazardous food must be held at proper temperature. Food must be held at proper hot temperature.
7-Eleven Store #11634
5 Bynum Road
Forest Hill, MD 21050
Violation: Potentially hazardous food must be held at proper temperature. Food must be held at proper cold temperature.
Arrow Project of Maryland
2416 Creswell Road
Bel Air, MD 21015
Violation: Potentially hazardous food must be held at proper temperature. Food must be held at proper cold temperature.
Bakerfield Elementary School
36 Baker Street
Aberdeen, MD 21001
Violation: Potentially hazardous food must be held at proper temperature. Food must be held at proper cold temperature.
Bulle Rock
320 Blenheim Lane
Havre de Grace, MD 21078
Violation: Potentially hazardous food must be held at proper temperature. Food must be held at proper cold temperature.
Churchville Elementary School
2935 Level Road
Churchville, MD 21028
Violation: Potentially hazardous food must be held at proper temperature. Food must be held at proper hot temperature.
Dark Horse Saloon
119 South Main Street
Bel Air, MD 21014
Violation: Food workers must practice effective hand washing procedures.
Dublin Market
3269 Dublin Road
Street, MD 21154
Violation: Potentially hazardous food must be held at proper temperature. Food must be held at proper cold temperature.
Edgewood Convenience Store
700 Edgewood Road
Edgewood, MD 21040
Violation: Potentially hazardous food must be held at proper temperature. Food must be held at proper cold temperature.
Edgewood Middle School
2311 Willoughby Beach Road
Edgewood, MD 21040
Violation: Potentially hazardous food must be held at proper temperature. Food must be held at proper cold temperature.
Forest Lakes Elementary School
100 Osborne Parkway
Forest Hill, MD 21050
Violation: Potentially hazardous food must be held at proper temperature. Food must be held at proper cold temperature.
George D. Lisby Elementary School
810 Edmund Street
Aberdeen, MD 21001
Violation: Potentially hazardous food must be held at proper temperature. Food must be held at proper cold temperature.
Gus’ Pizza
1928 B Pulaski Highway
Edgewood, MD 21040
Violation: Potentially hazardous food must be held at proper temperature. Food must be held at proper hot temperature.
Hall’s Cross Road Elementary School
203 East Bel Air Avenue
Aberdeen, MD 21001
Violations: Potentially hazardous food must be held at proper temperature. Food must be held at proper cold temperature. Food must be held at proper hot temperature.
Harford County Detention Center
1030 North Rock Spring Avenue
Bel Air, MD 21014
Violations: Potentially hazardous food must be held at proper temperature. Food must be held at proper cold temperature. Food must be held at proper hot temperature.
Harvest Fare
2315 Bel Air Road C-7
Fallston, MD 21047
Violation: Potentially hazardous food must be held at proper temperature. Food must be held at proper cold temperature.
Hing Wah Carry Out
3724 Norrisville Road
Jarrettsville, MD 21084
Violation: Food must be protected from contamination, spoilage and adulteration.
John Carroll School, The
703 E. Churchville Road
Bel Air, MD 21014
Violation: Potentially hazardous food must be held at proper temperature. Food must be held at proper hot temperature.
Main Street Tower Restaurant & Lounge
29 South Main Street
Bel Air, MD 21014
Violation: Potentially hazardous food must be held at proper temperature. Food must be held at proper cold temperature.
North Bend Elementary School
1445 North Bend Road
Jarrettsville, MD 21084
Violation: Potentially hazardous food must be held at proper temperature. Food must be held at proper cold temperature.
North Harford Elementary School
120 Pylesville Road
Pylesville, MD 21132
Violation: Potentially hazardous food must be held at proper temperature. Food must be held at proper cold temperature.
Papa John’s Pizza #720
18-C Bel Air South Parkway
Bel Air, MD 21015
Violation: Potentially hazardous food must be held at proper temperature. Food must be held at proper cold temperature.
Redner’s Warehouse Market – Joppa
1002 Joppa Farm Road
Joppa, MD 21085
Violation: Potentially hazardous food must be held at proper temperature. Food must be held at proper cold temperature.
Riverside Elementary School
211 Stillmeadow Drive
Joppa, MD 21085
Violations: Potentially hazardous food must be properly cooled. Potentially hazardous food must be held at proper temperature. Food must be held at proper cold temperature.
Riverside Gourmet Deli
1250 Brass Mill Road
Belcamp, MD 21017
Violation: Potentially hazardous food must be held at proper temperature. Food must be held at proper cold temperature.
Rogers Coffee & Tea
3454 A Emmorton Road
Abingdon, MD 21009
Violation: Potentially hazardous food must be held at proper temperature. Food must be held at proper cold temperature.
Roye-Williams Elementary School
201 Oakington Road
Havre de Grace, MD 21078
Violation: Potentially hazardous food must be held at proper temperature. Food must be held at proper cold temperature.
Sweet Devotion
1834 C Pulaski Highway
Havre de Grace, MD 21078
Violation: Potentially hazardous food must be held at proper temperature. Food must be held at proper cold temperature.
Szechuan Inn
114-116 S. Phila. Blvd.
Aberdeen, MD 21001
Violation: Potentially hazardous food must be held at proper temperature. Food must be held at proper hot temperature.
TGI Friday’s
615 Baltimore Pike
Bel Air, MD 21014
Violation: Potentially hazardous food must be held at proper temperature. Food must be held at proper cold temperature.
Weis Markets, Inc., #193
943 Pulaski Highway
Havre de Grace, MD 21078
Violations: Potentially hazardous food must be properly cooled. Potentially hazardous food must be held at proper temperature. Food must be held at proper cold temperature. Food must be held at proper hot temperature.
The full food facility inspection report is available here.
If I counted correctly, 9 public elementary schools? I can only draw 2 conclusions from this. Either the HCPS needs to really shake up the food service staff who are treating the food they serve to our kids in an unsafe manner. Or, The Health Department needs its own little shaking up. Remember, these are termed “critical” violations.
Other than that, Dagger, why is this same old, same old considered news?
I have a suspicion that food being deemed not hot or cold enough is a routine determination that means almost nothing in terms of the health conditions for food service. Bettin’ most parents feed their families food they make, from thier own kitchens in which the food temperatures wouldn’t make the grade in terms of health inspection requirements – picnics or barbeques forget it – nobody would make the grade and yet we eat that food without blinking and happily.
I agree with your comment. It makes sense that public eateries are held to a higher standard, but these violations should be taken with a grain of salt. It might be a good idea to publish the kitchens that passed the inspection as well as the violations.
As you point out, the most serious violations probably occur in our private homes, with meat thawing on the kitchen counter and potato salad fermenting on the backyard picnic table.
For example, it takes four hours for bacteria to rise to dangerous levels in unrefrigerated (room temperature or below) food. As long as you eat it within that time, you will usually be ok, but the inspector is only able to look at the moment in time when he is inspecting the facility. The food with the bad temperature reading might have only sat out for a few minutes, but he can’t be sure that it is only a temporary condition and not a systematic problem.
Point taken and certainly routine inspections provide a level of policing necessary just to keep everybody reasonably honest. I just wouldn’t be too concerned over a food temperature violation – now mice and rat dropping and the hand washing thing are a bit gross. Curious how the inspector knows an employee used the bathroom and didn’t wash their hands? They spied on them – parked themselves in disguise in a bathroom and watched everybody coming and going? That’s a new one – the government now acting as restroom police.
Handwashing “practices” violations might be something simple like not having a sign reminding employees to do so, or some other “practice” that promotes it– I’m guessing.
Also, some kitchens have handwashing sinks or even dispensers near the entrance where employees are to wash up any time they enter the food prep area, so maybe the inspector observed someone coming in who didn’t do that.
Who knows.
But I agree, food temperature violations are relatively meaningless expecially since virtualy every place in the County has had them at some time.
I have asked repeatedly for consolidated reports so that we can at least see if one place had 2 in a year and another place had 20. Instead you have to go manually tally this yourself.
Employees not washing their hands? Yuck!~
Well now at least we have some discussion started on this ho hum topic. I guess one of my unspoken points is that the violations are so wide spread and frequent that they have become meaningless. Like you, Noble, I think highlighting repeat offenders would mean much more to all of us.
Oh, and Money Tree, you said we eat picnic and barbecue food happily and without blinking. Apparently you haven’t tased my aunt’s potato salad. (I can safely say that because I know she doesn’t read The Dagger.)
Your secrets safe with me.
I asked for that here, and sent an email to the Health Dept two years ago. I got pointed to the reports they already publish and pretty much got a yawn.
If you look at the smattering of responses on here from business owners, I think it ends up being a wink and a nod between the Health Dept and chamber of commerce so as not to disparage any particular business.
I could be wrong.
I like the municipalities that assign letter grades to inspected restaurants and require they display the grade in the front window. Usually those health departments will also show the last X grades and the date each was received on their website for all of the restaurants under their jurisdiction.
So if I’m reading this correctly, everyone knows there are standards, and enforceable laws that govern the food service industry yet everyone seems just fine with nobody following those rules. That should lead to one of two conclusions 1) There should be no Health Department in the County (big cost savings here folks!) or 2) Smack the Health Department in the back of the head and toss their leadership – their job is to enforce what was thought to be a standard that protects the public from the spread of harmful disease and illness. So which is it? Keep’em or toss them?
To be fair, I suspect that these violations are indeed not critical. If the Health Department insists on calling them critical then we have a problem. If they are not critical, then let’s stop making a big deal out of it. From a ‘consumer’ standpoint I’m wondering if these establishments – including a bunch of schools – are putting patrons at risk, or not. I would like to have an answer from the health department that is either yes, or no. Not a bunch of bureaucratese mumbo jumbo.
But that’s their function – bureaucratese mumbo jumbo!