Roaches, plumbing problems led to Fresno County restaurant closures in January
Cockroaches and backed-up drains were among the violations that forced the closures of restaurants following Fresno County health inspections in January.
Three restaurants in the county – two in Fresno, one in Parlier – were temporarily closed until their owners or managers could resolve the problems identified by inspectors for the Fresno County Health Department. The three matches the number of restaurants that were closed for health violations in January 2019.
The first of the closures was at Yoshi’s, a Chinese restaurant in Parlier, where inspectors ordered the restaurant to close on Jan. 15 because of a lack of hot water for hand washing and washing dishes. The restaurant was allowed to reopen six days later, on Jan. 21, following a reinspection.
Mr. Tsuchiya, a Japanese and ramen restaurant in the Bullard Plaza shopping center at Bullard and Palm avenues, was closed for less than a day on Jan. 27. An inspector who visited the restaurant when it wasn’t operating found that the kitchen sinks were not draining properly and that water was backing up from a floor drain. A plumber had already been called, and the restaurant was allowed to reopen later that day after a resinspection.
A cockroach infestation was to blame for the three-day closure of Fusion Food, an Indian restaurant located in the food court at the Fresno Fashion Fair mall on Shaw Avenue between Fresno and First streets. A Jan. 28 health inspection revealed indications of an infestation, as well as no hot water in the kitchen’s three-compartment sink. The restaurant was allowed to reopen on Jan. 31.
Fusion Food is in the same spot in the mall that was formerly occupied by Jay’s Flame Grilled Chicken, an eatery that was twice closed by county restaurant inspectors in 2017 for rodent infestations.
Common restaurant violations
A lack of hot water is one of the most common violations inspectors find when they make their routine visits to restaurants. The county health department has about two dozen environmental health specialists who monitor more than 5,300 restaurants, snack bars, grocery stores, commissaries, delicatessens and food vendors across Fresno County with unannounced visits four times a year. Some of those inspectors are also responsible for checking other facilities such as tattoo or body art parlors, public swimming pools and other sites.
The department also inspects restaurants in response to complaints or concerns from the public if people see health or sanitation issues at restaurants.
Inspectors run through a checklist of more than 50 issues when they visit a restaurant or food-service site. More often than not, when an inspector finds a problem, it’s something minor that can be fixed. There’s a checklist of more than 50 issues that inspectors use when conducting an inspection at a restaurant, commissary, food truck or other food-service site.
Usually, if an inspector finds an issue, it’s the kind of thing that can be quickly remedied without a closure order – things like having enough bleach in the water used to wipe down food-preparation counters, replacing lids on food containers in the walk-in refrigerator, resupplying paper towels in the restrooms or reminding employees to wear gloves or hairnets and to wash their hands.
But other things that represent an immediate danger to health and safety will trigger a closure until the problem can be solved. Those can include a lack of hot water for washing dishes or hands; infestations of rodents, cockroaches or other insects; refrigerators that don’t keep cold food cold enough and steam tables that don’t keep food hot enough to inhibit bacteria; or plumbing problems including backed-up drains and toilets.
Fresno County makes its restaurant inspection reports publicly available at www.fresnohealthinspections.org. While the reports are online, Fresno County has not adopted a system used in some other California counties that awards letter grades to restaurants based on their inspection results.
Officials said letter grades can become meaningless if almost every facility that passes gets an A grade. Instead, they said, Fresno County’s rating is simple: You either pass or you don’t.
This story was originally published February 6, 2020 at 1:06 PM.
