Wichita restaurant inspections: Box of moldy tomatoes, old fish paste, meat issues
A local gourmet butcher shop and a seafood restaurant failed their Kansas Department of Agriculture food safety inspections last week. Their violations include not tossing out rotting tomatoes, storing food at unsafe temperatures, keeping old fish paste on site and issues with meat preparation, a check of Sedgwick County’s non-compliant inspections from Sept. 4-11 shows.
Information about the non-compliant businesses, compiled Sept. 15, appears below and online in our database 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 can increase the risk of a customer contracting a food-borne illness, or when a problem can’t be fixed right away, such as 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
Headz and Tailz, 301 N. Washington in Wichita — Eight violations for having a box of around 100 moldy tomatoes in a cooler, storing food at unsafe temperatures, meats and sauces weren’t marked with their opening or preparation dates, old fish paste and habanero paste, sausage and potatoes were not marked with discard time, dirty pans, sink used to store soap, no soap at sink. Follow-up inspection scheduled for Sept. 19.
Sig’s Gourmet Butcher Shop, 300 S. Baltimore in Derby — One violation for not having an approved variance for meat snack sticks and bacon cured and vacuum packaged on site. Follow-up inspection scheduled for Nov. 9.
This story was originally published September 16, 2021 at 11:00 AM.
