Sacramento cafe closed for unsafe food, dirty floors. See inspection report details
Sacramento County health inspectors closed a local restaurant due to a lack of hot water, “potentially hazardous food” at unsafe temperatures and other issues.
Meanwhile, inspectors cited a 7-Eleven convenience store and a Vietnamese restaurant for food safety violations ranging from dead cockroaches to slime and improperly stored meat.
While a yellow placard signals two or more major violations, these are typically corrected or mitigated during the inspection, according to the Sacramento County Retail Food Inspection Guide.
A red placard, however, signals “imminent danger to public health and safety” and suspends the health permit until violations are corrected.
This could include, but is not limited to, major vermin contamination.
In contrast, a green placard means a restaurant passed inspection.
The county performs about 14,000 inspections annually, with 97% of establishments passing, spokesman Ken Casparis previously told The Sacramento Bee.
Approximately 1% of inspections result in a closure, he said.
Here are the results of Sacramento County food facility inspections for Thursday, July 10, through Wednesday, July 16, as of Thursday afternoon:
If an inspection listed below needs clarification, business owners can email The Sacramento Bee at servicejournalists@sacbee.com.
The Bee publishes weekly updates on health inspections across Sacramento County.
Sacramento restaurant closed due to unsafe food, lack of hot water
Bella Bru Cafe, 4680 Natomas Blvd., Suite 100, in Sacramento, had 10 major food safety violations on Thursday, July 10.
Sacramento County health inspectors immediately shut down the Sacramento restaurant after discovering a lack of hot water at the compartment sink.
They also cited Bella Bru Cafe for having “potentially hazardous foods” outside of proper holding temperatures, including soft cheese, a hard-boiled egg, prepackaged pasta and chopped chicken, the July 10 report said.
The restaurant was improperly cooling beef pot roast in the walk-in cooler, and raw foods were improperly stored in the two-door freezer.
A meat slicer hadn’t been properly cleaned.
Inspectors found “excessive debris” on a shelf at the front espresso beverage counter and coffee grounds in front of the counter.
There was excessive debris on floors under the front stacked oven, sticky liquid spilled under a two-door freezer and spilled liquid, debris and trash under the bar ice bin.
Additionally, knives were stored in a bucket of unclean sanitation solution.
The men’s restroom was missing a handwashing sign.
Bella Bru Cafe was reinspected on Friday, July 11, and passed with a green placard.
Kristen Freeland, manager of Bella Bru Cafe, told The Sacramento Bee that the restaurant had noticed a problem with the hot water the morning of the inspection and was waiting for the plumber to arrive with a necessary part when health inspectors arrived.
Freeland said the problem was fixed and the restaurant was up and running by the next morning.
7-Eleven, Vietnamese restaurant cited for cockroaches, slime
7-Eleven, 7700 La Riviera Drive in Sacramento, had eight violations on Thursday, July 10.
The local convenience store was cited by health inspectors for not having paper towels at the front hand washing station and the rear hand washing station near the employee restroom.
Additionally, health inspectors said, chicken wings, buffalo chicken hot dogs and prepackaged pizza were outside of the temperature range considered safe.
There was “old syrup build-up” on the soda machine dispensing nozzles and surrounding surfaces — a second repeat violation — and “heavy, old slime-like buildup” in the self-service mocha nozzle, the July 10 report said.
Uncovered burritos were stored in a “haphazard manner” inside the reach-in cooler.
The store’s ventilation system in the employee restroom was damaged and missing cover parts.
There was an opening measuring 10 inches by 10 inches in the wall in the back room. This is a second repeat violation.
The store did not have a current health permit posted, and was missing food handler cards for employees on site.
7-Eleven passed a reinspection on Friday, July 11.
Saigon Kitchen Express, 2225 Hurley Way, Suite 101, in Sacramento, had 19 health food violations on Monday, July 14.
Inspectors gave the Vietnamese restaurant a yellow placard after finding several foods outside of proper holding temperatures including raw sprouts, cooked rice, pork, brisket and vegetable egg rolls.
There were four dead adult Turkestan cockroaches throughout the restaurant including on glue traps and below the cold-top cooler.
Inspectors found food debris on the back side of the meat slicer.
Inspectors observed an employee improperly reheating cooked rice, which the restaurant voluntarily discarded.
Employees at the restaurant lacked proper food safety knowledge in several areas including holding temperatures, reheating temperatures and potentially hazardous foods.
Two open containers of raw beef were stored inside the walk-in refrigerator, and there was an open container of raw beef inside the walk-in freezer.
A bag of salt was stored directly on the floor.
There was noticeable grease accumulation on the ventilation hood filters over the grill.
The restaurant’s food safety certification and food handler cards were not available at the time of inspection.
Saigon Kitchen Express was reinspected on Tuesday, July 15, and passed with a green placard.
