Oh, no! An inspector made a Miami Downstairs store throw out its coffee and croquetas
Never mind gas station sushi, a state inspector found a Miami gas station’s coffee, croquetas, lettuce and tuna salad unfit for human consumption on Monday (although the coffee violation is one you’ll find in many gas stations).
This assessment appears on the Florida Department of Agriculture inspection of the Downstairs convenience store at the 6795 Miller Dr. BP station.
READ MORE: Which Miami supermarket had mold, birds, mystery food and food uncovered under sinks?
The Ag Department inspects packaged food sellers, from supermarkets down to FedEx/Kinko’s places. While inspectors can’t shut down an establishment, they can slap Stop Sale and Stop Use Orders on products, equipment and areas of the establishment.
And on Monday, Inspector James Zheng slapped Downstairs with frequency. Here’s some of what he found.
▪ Inspector Zheng noted that this place’s food permit said it could be a “convenience store with limited food service” but the store was “operating as a convenience store with significant food service and or package ice that makes sandwiches and cooks from raw.”
▪ It’s hard to wash your hands without soap. The handwashing sink next to the coffee machine didn’t have any.
▪ It’s also hard to properly wash hands or equipment for food preparation without hot water, which was lacking at the ware wash sink and “all the handwashing sinks throughout the establishment.” That got repaired.
▪ “Live fly standing directly on top of shredded lettuce, tuna salad and cut tomatoes.” That’s a Stop Sale Order for the shredded lettuce, tuna salad and cut tomatoes.
▪ “Employee used wood knock board in contact with garbage to knock off coffee grinds and fill with fresh grinds to make coffee.” In response to this common violation at Miami gas station convenience stores, the knock board was washed, rinsed, sanitized and put in a separate garbage can to be used only for coffee grinds. The coffee got hit with a Stop Sale Order.
▪ Both the coffee machine’s steam wand and the slicer had been in use for more than four hours. Neither had been cleaned, rinsed and sanitized.
▪ “Food employees engaged in food preparation without hair restraints.”
▪ Cold storage units should keep food at or below 41 degrees, so the unit’s temperature obviously needs to be below that. The display cold unit from which customers could grab food measured 46.5 degrees. An open display unit under the cash register measured 51 degrees. The display cold unit came in at 57 to 62 degrees. The malfunctioning cold unit with food used for preparation was up at 62 degrees, 21 degrees to the bad.
Stop Use Orders all around.
▪ Proper food safety says food kept in hot storage needs to be at 135 degrees or above. The milk next to the coffee machine was 114 degrees. In the hot box, ham croquetas were 130 degrees, meat pastries were 121 degrees, corn arepas with cheese were 130 degrees and scrambled egg croissants were 124 degrees.
All got hit with Stop Sale Orders, and food tossed.
