Wichita inspections: Cockroaches, black mold, cups by toilet, to-go boxes on ground
A hotel, a motel and a local diner location best known for serving up American breakfast fare failed their Kansas Department of Agriculture food and lodging safety inspections last week. Their violations include storing residential-grade insecticide on the property when only commercial-grade chemicals are allowed, employees that touched food with their bare hands after it was ready to serve to customers and storing take-out and drink containers directly on the ground, a check of Sedgwick County’s non-compliant inspections from July 4-10 shows.
The motel inspection turned up a number of problems including black mold, cockroaches and broken emergency lights. The motel was also storing drinking cups next to the toilet in some rooms, according to an inspection report.
A list of the three local non-compliant businesses, compiled July 12, appears below with a summary of the problems inspectors noted on their reports. More information, including specific violation descriptions and inspection dates, is posted in The Eagle’s searchable, non-compliant restaurant and hotel inspection database at www.kansas.com/databases.
More than 30 businesses surveyed last week passed their inspections with few or no violations. You can see those at www.foodsafety.kda.ks.gov/FoodSafety/Web/Inspection/PublicInspectionSearch.aspx.
Failing an inspection doesn’t necessarily mean a business has to close; that’s rare. Most violations are minor and are immediately corrected on site. Businesses fall out of compliance with state rules when they have too many violations or certain types of problems that may increase the risk of a customer contracting a food-borne illness, or when a problem can’t be fixed right away, like plumbing issues and pest infestations.
When a business fails, it’s usually inspected again within 10 days.
To complain about conditions anywhere that serves or sells food to the public, email kda.fsl@ks.gov or call 785-564-6767.
Recent out-of-compliance inspections:
Comfort Inn and Suites Hotel, 7856 E. 36th St. N. in Wichita — Four violations for storing yogurt at unsafe temperatures, not marking preparations date on containers of diced tomatoes and ham, storing home-grade insecticide under kitchen sink when only restaurant-grade chemicals are allowed on site. Follow-up inspection set for July 17.
IHOP, 515 S. Ridge Circle in Wichita — Eleven violations for employee not washing hands after cracking raw eggs, employee touching cooked bacon and hamburger buns with bare hands, raw eggs stored above strawberry topping in refrigerator, undercooked hamburger that had been ordered well done, cooked peppers and breakfast food items including par-cooked hash browns kept at unsafe temperatures, pancake batter was too warm, hot drinking water machine has “a heavy build-up of white debris,” boxes of to-go containers and drink items “stored directly on the ground,” water not hot enough at hand-washing sink, dirty air vents. Follow-up inspection scheduled for July 16.
Mark 8 Inn, 1130 N. Broadway in Wichita — Six violations for storing single-use cups by toilets in some rooms, missing window screens, broken emergency lights, broken or non-working smoke detectors including some that had no battery backup, “visible black mold on the wall” in one room, “a live juvenile cockroach on the table” in one room. Follow-up inspection set for Sept. 6.
This story was originally published July 14, 2021 at 4:11 AM.
