Health inspectors find kitchen nightmare in Trump’s resort

RESTAURANT inspectors found 13 violations in the kitchen at Mar-a-Lago, Donald Trump’s exclusive private club in Florida, two weeks before the Japanese prime minister paid a visit.

They included meat not stored at the right temperature, raw fish that had not undergone “proper parasite destruction” and two kitchen coolers that were “not maintained in good repair”.

The club charges $200,000 in initiation fees and has become known as the Southern White House.

Mr Trump was due to set out from Washington for Mar-a-Lago last night, his seventh weekend visit there since becoming president.

The Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, which enforces “sanitation and safety laws”, inspected the club on Jan 26, two weeks before Shinzo Abe, the Japanese prime minister, was hosted there.

Violations found included fish intended to be served raw or undercooked that had not had the right parasite destruction, while inside a cooler inspectors found meats meant to be stored at 41F (5C) at higher temperatures.

There was ham at 57F, beef at 50F, duck at 50F, chicken at 49F.

According to the report a Mar-a-Lago technician said the cooler was on defrost and had “corrected the problem”. Other violations included an employee handwash sink where water was not hot enough.

Three of the violations were classed as “high priority” meaning they “could contribute directly to a foodborne illness”. The number of violations had increased from 11 in 2016 and two in 2015.

According to the report those found on the Jan 26 inspection were “corrected on site” at the time.

Mr Trump has owned Mar-a-Lago since 1985 and, according to the Miami

Herald, was personally involved in day-to-day operations before his presidential run, when it would pass restaurant inspections with flying colours.

It came as a Florida county was said to be considering imposing a “Trump tax” to cover the cost of the president’s weekends at Mar-a-Lago.

Mr Trump’s visits have cost Palm Beach County taxpayers about $2 million (£1.6 million) so far, with the county spending more than $60,000 a day when he is there, mostly on police overtime. Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said the county probably spent about $250,000 during Mr Trump’s recent meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The county is hoping the federal government will reimburse its costs.

The US Coast Guard, which uses boats and helicopters 24 hours a day when the president is at Mar-a-Lago, said it had not yet been given extra funds to cover its costs.