FourFairfieldeateries get priority health violations in July
Aug. 16—The Health Department distributes violations on a three-tiered scale, which include the most minor "core" violations, the higher-level "priority foundation" violations and the most serious "priority" violations.
The Brooklawn Country Club earned three priority violations, Duchess received two and Sammy's and the Linda E. McMahon Commons at Sacred Heart each tallied one. The identification, storage and use of toxic chemicals and food storage and protection each accounted for a pair of the businesses' collective violations.
The Brooklawn Country Club's main kitchen received violations for improper hot and cold holding temperatures and the identification, storage and use of toxic substances.
Staff corrected the hot and cold holding temperatures during the inspection, according to the Health Department. Department records do not state which food or temperatures the inspector flagged. Country club personnel also had stored medication in the food preparation areas, and staff moved it to an area without food during the inspection to resolve the problem, according to the report.
Sanitarian Melissa Soricelli said she had inspected the club's poolside snack bar the day before and noted no priority violations.
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Two Easton eateries receive priority health violations in July
The country club did not return a request for comment.
The Health Department flagged Duchess with priority violations for bare-handed contact with ready-to-eat food and food storage and protection, the inspection report states. The health inspector wrote the grill person handled ready-to-eat food with their bare hands and noted that raw temperature-controlled food should be stored vertically and separated from ready-to-eat food.
Lilian Cornejo, a manager at Duchess, said staff took "corrective action" for the violations during the inspection.
Sacred Heart's Linda E. McMahon Commons garnered a priority violation for unlabeled chemicals left out of their original container, according to the inspection report. The report states staff labeled a bottle during the inspection to resolve the issue
Sacred Heart spokesperson Kimberly Swartz said the McMahon Commons has been closed since May.
"During our July inspection, we had one priority violation there, and it was corrected while the inspectors were still onsite," Swartz said in an email. "The report should indicate that."
Sammy's earned a priority violation for food storage and protection, according to the report on the inspection. The inspector wrote that staff should separate raw food like chicken, pork, beef and eggs from ready-to-eat-food and store them vertically by cooking temperature.
Sammy Palik, the owner of Sammy's, said staff received a delivery of meats like chicken on the same day of the inspection and quickly stowed them away, adding the business stores food in need of cooling "as fast as possible" when a fresh shipment arrives. He said the pizza shop had been busy that day, so when the inspector arrived on site, they instructed the staff to organize the raw food in storage under the appropriate health guidelines.
Palik said workers fixed the issue "right away" during the inspection.
"We go by the rules and try to do our best in the rules because it's no joke," Palik said. "It's food. So we take our job seriously."
