Inspectors saw knives shoved where they shouldn’t be shoved, whole chickens as bacteria battleships and low priority handwashing at a Coral Springs supermarket.
The Florida Department of Agriculture inspectors’ Aug. 20 visit to Key Food, 10301 Royal Palm Blvd., ended with the supermarket needing re-inspection before Tuesday, Sept. 3.
The inspection lists this Key Food Supermarket’s owner as 10301 Royal Palm Food Corp., which state records say is run by president Juan Diaz of Coral Springs; vice president Raifiz Vargas of Weston; and secretary Alejandro Paulino of Boca Raton. The same trio also run the owning corporation of the Key Food at 10400 NW Seventh Ave. in North Miami-Dade, which face-planted during a June 2023 inspection.
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Diaz, Vargas and Paulino’s Coral Springs Key Food repeated some of the shortcomings of their North Miami-Dade Key Food location, but also put its own flavor on filth for inspectors Bryan Kirkconnell and Timothy O’Neil.
▪ “No hot water was available at the beginning of visit.”
▪ “Knives being used to cut fish stored between the wall and sink between uses.”
▪ The “knife rack next to the meat saw was broken and dirty with old food debris.”
▪ A food service area worker “rinsed off a spatula without cleaning and sanitizing it, and prepared to use it for service.”
▪ In the food service area, the utensils were “stored under the steam table, in a bucket, not inverted or stored to prevent contamination.”
▪ Employees in the food processing area “did not wash their hands between entering and exiting the various processing areas and returning to don gloves and/or handle clean utensils to prepare food items for customers.”
▪ The produce area handwash sink had “bags of produce stored in the handwash sink,” so if food wasn’t obstructing handwashing, it was getting the splash from dirty hands being washed.
▪ Single use items were in the food service area handwash sink.
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▪ “Unwashed produce was on the cutting board while an employee was preparing ready-to-eat foods.”
▪ Watermelon out for sale and cut the previous day should have been cooled to under 41 degrees for proper food safety. Instead, its internal temperature measured 53 to 60 degrees. Stop Sale on the watermelon.
▪ Over at the food service area’s hot holding case, the whole chickens and pork shoulder measured 113 to 122 degrees after four hours in the hot holding case. Stop Sales knocked both into the garbage.
▪ Flies were by the returned produce and the mop sink in the backroom.
▪ “Cases of raw chicken sat on the floor of the prep room.”
▪ The inspectors noticed “grime and old food debris buildup over the cutting table in the kitchen, next to prep sink” in the food processing area.
▪ Wiping cloths weren’t kept in a sanitizer solution between uses in the meat department, produce department and food processing area.
▪ Pans hanging over the food processing area’s three-compartment sink were “encrusted with grease.”
Source Agencies
