McDonald’s, 5 other kitchens fail April health inspections
DANBURY — Six kitchens failed health department inspections in April, including McDonald’s on Newtown Road.
They were open on Thursday after passing re-inspections.
Five of the six kitchens failed because of a serious violation involving improper handwashing, a food temperature violation or a food container that was compromised.
The other kitchen failed because it accumulated too many demerits.
The failing kitchens were Dutchess of Danbury on Mill Plain Road, Grand Century Buffet on Padanaram Road, La Mexicana Bakery on White Street, Lou’s Everything Store and Salvage on Liberty Street, McDonald’s on Newtown Road and Widow Brown’s Café on Federal Road, according to records posted this week on Danbury’s municipal website.
A manager of Widow Brown’s said the restaurant failed because an inspector watched a cook touch a piece of toast and then pick up a piece of lettuce without washing his hands first.
“Honestly, I don’t think it should have been a violation,” said J.T. Wilson, manager of Widow Brown’s, who said he was there during the inspection. “But we have to abide by what the inspector says.”
Health inspectors check kitchens for 60 categories of cleanliness and safety, ranging from employee hygiene to safe food storage. A kitchen does not need a perfect score to pass inspection, but it must earn at least 80 points on a 100-point scale.
That means a kitchen cannot afford to rack up too many minor demerits for violations such as improperly thawed food, the presence of vermin, or the improper disposal of waste water.
A kitchen with a passing score can still fail its health inspection if it is cited for a serious fourpoint demerit — such as a food temperature violation or inadequate hand-washing.
A serious violation carries a $250 fine and requires the kitchen to correct the violation in
24 hours or be closed.
In some cases, kitchens fail because of a serious violation and a failing score.
That happened in April at Dutchess of Danbury, which failed for a hand-washing violation and with a low score of 71. It also happened at Grand Century Buffet, which failed for a food temperature violation and a low score of 69.
Efforts to reach a manager at Dutchess on Thursday were not successful.
At Grand Century Buffet, co-manager Ju Xie said the temperature violation had been fixed and “everything” in the restaurant had been cleaned.
McDonald’s failed for a hand-washing violation. A manager was not available on Thursday to comment.
La Mexicana failed due a low score of 74. Its
19 violations included failure to protect the kitchen against rodents and insects. A manager was not immediately available to comment.
Lou’s Everything Store and Salvage failed because of a serious violation of a compromised food container. An employee said the violation had been corrected.
“We fixed it and passed our (re-) inspection,” said employee Margo Rosario.