Tag: restaurant health violations

When the staff at Providence Country Club in Charlotte received a score of 81.5% during an inspection in October for moldy food and dirty dishes, they didn’t panic.

They called Adam Dietrich.

Dietrich, a Charlotte-based food safety consultant and former culinary arts teacher at Myers Park High School, has spent years in restaurant kitchens, including a stint with Burke Hospitality Group, the company behind Harper’s Restaurant. Through his firm, EXPO Food Safety, he helps restaurants prepare for inspections by reviewing past reports.

“We go through what their last health inspections look like, we create action plans, and we monitor their operations,” he explained.

Thanks to his guidance, the country club received a score of 94% — considered an “A” by state standards — during an inspection almost exactly a month later.

Having spent nearly two decades teaching culinary arts and even more working in restaurant kitchens, Dietrich has seen his fair share of health violations. The most common, he said, include “performative” glove use, dripping juices and improperly held warm foods.

Here’s what you need to know.

1. Little to no handwashing

One of the most common violations restaurants are often faced with involves employee handwashing, Dietrich said.

The North Carolina Food Code requires food employees to wash their hands frequently, including after using the restroom, handling raw foods, touching their face or hair, handling money or any time hands may be contaminated, to prevent foodborne illness.

“Foodborne illnesses, especially norovirus, are transmitted easily by people to food through unwashed hands,” Dietrich said.

Good handwashing practices are also critical to prevent the spread of other diseases, such as Campylobacter, Salmonella, and E. coli, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which notes that nine in 10 outbreaks in which food was contaminated by food workers involve the spread of germs from the hands.

2. Improper glove use

Somewhat related to handwashing, Dietrich called the practice of employees frequently using (or overusing) gloves “performative.”

“I feel that a lot of glove use is performative. … Misused gloves can be more dangerous than unwashed hands, and we see a lot of glove infractions throughout the inspection reports,” Dietrich said. “In things like, where the cook is switching tasks without changing gloves, or they’re changing gloves without getting a hand wash in between.”

He recounted a recent time when he and his partner went out to dinner at a restaurant in Charlotte, and his server brought their food to their table wearing gloves, “then walked back into the kitchen, where they had to touch a door … and then to put their gloved hands back on a plate. They didn’t change their gloves in between.”

The state food code requires employees to wear gloves when handling ready-to-eat foods and to change them whenever they become contaminated, soiled or between tasks that could transfer germs. Wearing gloves front-of-house (servers, hosts, etc.) is discouraged and shouldn’t replace frequent hand washing, according to the National Restaurant Association.

Studies show that improper or extended use of gloves can actually lead to higher levels of bacterial contamination on gloves than on bare hands, because microbes can accumulate under gloves and give a false sense of security if they aren’t changed regularly. In some studies, gloves not changed between tasks had higher bacterial counts and could transfer germs just as easily as ungloved hands, underscoring the need for frequent changing and proper hand hygiene.

Still, Dietrich warned that, for employees handling food, glove use while on the clock is critical.

3. Wrong cold holding temperatures

“The magic number’s 41 degrees,” he said. “We want all cold holding to be 41 degrees or less, and that’s because bacteria grows much slower at temperatures under 41 degrees.”

“The science tells us that bacteria can grow to an unsafe level within four hours if food is above 41 degrees, whereas it takes seven days to grow to that same unsafe level if it’s held under 41 degrees,” he continued.

At warmer temperatures such as 70 degrees (typical room temperature), bacteria can double every 20 to 30 minutes, rapidly increasing in number and risk, according to Utah-based Fenix Food Safety. At temperatures closer to body heat (around 98 degrees), growth can be even faster.

“If you can’t keep your food cold, they can shut you down, and they will,” he added.

4. Improper food storage

Restaurants with limited amounts of space are often strapped for storage, which means things aren’t always where they should be, Dietrich said.

“When you start putting things in random places, you open yourself up to juices dripping onto other things, which leads to cross contamination,” he added.

That’s what happened at Lancaster’s BBQ in the Charlotte area in 2012, when liquid from thawed poultry was identified dripping onto the walk‑in cooler floor and being tracked around the restaurant, which investigators identified as a likely contributor to a Salmonella outbreak, Marler Clark, a Washington-based food safety law firm that handled the case.

Cross contamination can also happen when foods aren’t wrapped correctly, or if bugs already present in a restaurant get hungry, said Dietrich — but the state food code sets rules to prevent cross contamination in food storage.

Ready-to-eat foods must be stored above raw animal products, in clean, covered containers, and at safe temperatures. Storage areas and equipment must be regularly cleaned and sanitized, and raw foods must be wrapped or positioned to prevent juices from dripping onto other items.

5. No food safety training

Dietrich emphasized multiple times how important it is for employees to understand how to safely handle, prepare, store and serve food to prevent foodborne illness. He explained that restaurants often lose points on their inspections due to lack of food safety knowledge.

The state food code also requires employees to receive training in hygiene, allergen awareness, and, for certain operations, Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (required for certain high-risk operations to identify and control hazards), with at least one certified food protection manager on duty.

More common violations

Aside from lack of handwashing and glove use, Dietrich said restaurants are often dinged for employees touching their faces or bodies and returning to food prep and blocked handwashing facilities, such as paper towels or another object blocking the handwashing sink.

“If you … know you’re a fairly limited operation, you might think you don’t need to invest in this food safety training because you’re doing a great job,” Dietrich said. “You might just take the point deductions during an inspection. How dangerous of a mentality is that?”