Newer Downtown Kent businesses violating health codes

Those looking to dine in downtown Kent have no shortage of options available to them. Choices range from classic delis’ and trendy gastropubs to quaint café’s and ethnic cuisine. However, they all have one thing in common, and that is having to pass health inspections by the city of Kent Health Department.

City Jeff Health Commissioner Jeff Neistadt said that there are hundreds of health code violations a restaurant can be cited for. These range from small infractions that can be fixed in a matter of minutes or hours up to shutting a facility down for a period of time.

The Kent health department performs two different health inspections, ranging in how thorough they examine the restaurant.

“In our standard inspection we basically look the entire restaurant over,” Neistadt said. “We are looking for temperature violations, how food is being stored, is the food properly labeled and where they are washing their hands.”

Neistadt said during a regular inspection they will also look over each part of the restaurant, not just the kitchen. The dining and bar areas are also put under scrutiny.

“The second inspection we do is much more in-depth and thorough,” Neistadt said. “We basically go through from farm to table.”

This is called a critical control point inspection. It is scheduled with the restaurant in advance because of the time commitment involved for both the restaurant and health department. During this inspection the health department will be looking at food storage, cooling, cooking and reheating of food items.

“We request a good hour or two of the restaurant owner or manager to go through the menu and their food items,” Neistadt said.

If a restaurant is issued a violation during an inspection, they have a limited amount of time to correct the problem. Neistadt said this time frame to correct a violation ranges from immediately for serious violations to a period of time ranging from 24 to 72 hours for lesser violations.

If a restaurant chooses to ignore their health code violations they can face serious consequences.

“If they choose to ignore the violation we do have to follow the Ohio administrative code,” Neistadt said. “We bring in the owner or operator to a meeting with myself and try to work out a plan to correct the deficiencies in the operation.”

If the restaurant choses to continue to ignore the health department, they face the possibility of having their food service license suspended.

Bar 145 on E. Erie Street in downtown Kent racked up 15 health code violations during the last calendar year. Some of these violations include food storage, employee training and the cleaning frequency of surfaces in the kitchen. Jemar Johnson, a manager at Bar 145 said they take health inspections very seriously.

Johnson said that if Bar 145 receives a violation, they address the issue immediately.

“We fix it, we follow up with our employees so they know what to look out for,” Johnson said. “We make it a habit to keep following up on those things.”

Johnson said that if any customer had any questions about their violations, he would hope they would look into the report to see how the situation was handled.  He would also welcome a phone call to the restaurant to answer any questions or clear up misconceptions.

Another downtown Kent restaurant that has received several health code violations during the last calendar year is Mr. Zubs Deli on S. Water Street.  They received 27 health code violations.

Me Zub’s Deli Employee Camern McMahon said that there are numerous health code violations, and many ones that at first glance would not seem like a violation.

“There are things that you wouldn’t think would be a health code violation, but actually are,” McMahon said. I’ve seen personally something as simple as we were putting the date that we cut stuff rather than the date it expired.”

McMahon said that doesn’t think the average citizen understands the health code system restaurants have to deal with.

“Until you work in a kitchen you don’t really know exactly what it is like,” Mcahon said. “I think the public is kept kind of in the dark on those things.”

McMahon added that sometimes a violation that could appear to be serious is in reality a very simple fix for the restaurant.

Information on health code violations in Kent, and other cities in Ohio is available at http://www.cleveland.com/datacentral/index.ssf/2015/03/ohio_food_safety_and_restauran.html

Neistadt said that he hopes the public uses the records of restaurant health inspection to their advantage. He also encourages citizens to simply contact the business to have their questions answered.

“I would hope that an individual would feel empowered enough to actually ask for a manager or the person in charge of the operation and address it with them,” Neistadt said. “More times than not they are really receptive and open to rectifying those situations.”