Bugs in food, rodents nibbling at flour among a Miami supermarket’s inspection issues

Roaches running in various places, bugs in pasta and rodents with an affinity for flour brought an inspector’s wrath down on a West Miami-Dade strip mall supermarket.

Tuesday’s Florida Department of Agriculture inspection at La Bodega Bestway Supermarket, 11400 W. Flagler St., produced eight and a half pages of violations.

State and county records say La Bodega is owned by Gemini L.T.A., which is run by its lone officer, Lazaro Acosta, out of a five-bedroom, five-and-a-half bathroom, 4,282 sq. ft. West Miami-Dade home.

READ MORE: Why did a Miami area Publix fail inspection? One reason: filthy meat trays

Here are a few of the violations at Acosta’s supermarket noted by Inspectors James Zheng and Julio Azpurua:

▪ “Live roaches were found crawling in various areas of the establishment: in the kitchen, including under the table where dry food is stored; in crevices on the outside of commercial oven; between the deli display cases and inside display case door frames; and nesting inside wall shelving fixtures” of the food service area.”

▪ “Rodent droppings and a bitten bag of corn flour underneath the preparation table.” The corn flour got hit with a Stop Sale.

▪ “Multiple dead roaches found beneath the equipment, tables, and rolling carts” of the kitchen, deli and food service area.

▪ “Multiple bags of dry pasta on shelves were infested with insects.” Stop Sales hit all those bags.

▪ “Multiple live flies flying around raw onions” in the produce area.

▪ “Uncovered trays of raw meat and raw chicken are stored inside the walk-in cooler.”

▪ In the kitchen, “Uncovered pieces of cooked pork, buckets of tamales mixed vegetables and dough mix inside the walk-in cooler.

▪ In the deli area, “Buckets containing fruit juices were stored underneath deli cases without any lids or other protection.”

▪ In the food service area, “multiple boxes of food stored on the walk-in freezer floor were exposed to splash.” More specifically, “multiple boxes of cassava were stored under dripping water from a leaking condenser unit inside the walk-in cooler.”

▪ There was “no splash guard present between the (kitchen) handwash sink and the preparation table where food was observed.”

▪ “Food offered in a way that misleads or misinforms the consumer” in that “lights were used to misrepresent the true appearance, color, or quality of a food.” The problem was a “red light has been used to display raw meats in the retail cold unit.”

▪ Kitchen and food service food-handling employees “did not wash their hands prior to donning gloves and between entering/exiting the processing areas to handle food and clean utensils.”

▪ Also, while wearing single-use (meaning use for one task, then toss into the trash) gloves, they “left the kitchen area to pick up ingredients in the walk-in cooler and return to continue cooking, then handled clean utensils for orders without changing gloves between tasks.”

▪ Then again, there wasn’t any soap at the kitchen handwash sink next to the bread ovens, none at the handwash sink next to a band saw and none at a deli handwash sink that also didn’t have paper towels.

▪ That deli handwash sink was blocked by a floor-standing juice blender. The food service area had a “big trash can blocking access to the handwash sink next to the walk-in cooler door.”

▪ “In-use knives and spoons are stored between equipment and unclean walls throughout the kitchen.”

▪ “Dry food substances had accumulated inside the interior of the microwaves” in the food service area.

▪ The deli area’s “meat grinder attachment and utensil to push found with old food residue.”

▪ The kitchen area could stand a bit of a scrub down.

The kitchen’s three-compartment sink displayed “visible grime and mold-like residue inside the basin and around the edges.”

“Old food residue, grease and grime were encrusted on the shelves and legs of the racks inside the kitchen walk-in cooler.”

“Accumulated grease and condensation on walls, vents, ceiling around the hood and exhaust fan located above the preparation table.”

“Accumulated dust, trash and food residue underneath equipment.”

▪ “Mold-like substance on the cardboard used as air barrier separator on several shelves at reach-in cooler where eggs are stored.”

▪ Similarly, in the kitchen, “soiled cardboard used as shelf liners on preparation tables and racks, as well inside both walk-in coolers.”

▪ Kitchen and food service area employees were fixing food without hair restraints.

▪ “Melted plastic bulb observed above chicken rotisserie equipment.”

▪ The main cooking range hood was missing a grease drip collector.

▪ In the deli area, there was “old food and dust underneath wooden counters and between and below display cases.”

▪ There was “accumulated old food, old single service items and dirt below a food-serving counter.”

▪ The food service area floor lacked “enough drains or its leveling is not effective as there was evidence of water accumulated and also draining underneath deli cases into the retail area. Wall junctures weren’t and sealed where water was flushing during the inspection.”

▪ “Multiple ceiling tiles missing or with water damage throughout the establishment.”

▪ The kitchen had “multiple holes observed on the walls and behind the storage of dry grains.”

▪ A “big hole was observed on the wall behind the raw meats reach-in cooler” in the retail area.

▪ Back to the food, “multiple containers with black beans” cooked the day before got hit with Stop Sale orders for being too warm even after more than six hours in the walk-in cooler. Stop-Use Orders

▪ Too-warm food getting hit with Stop Sales in the deli area were ham, mortadela, white cheese, turkey, pork loin and havarti cheese. Basura.

▪ At the other end of the thermometer, food kept in hot holding but not hot enough were fried ham croquetas, fish croquetas, beef croquetas, fish patties, pork chunks, a whole chicken, chicken with potatoes, ground plantains, chicken wings and pork rips. All below 135 degrees, all hit with Stop Sales.

▪ Stop-Use Orders struck the Marc Brand reach-in cooler with raw meats and sausages because its ambient temperature was 50 to 53 degrees, way too warm to get food under 41 degrees; and the deli area display cold unit, which measured 44 to 46 degrees.

▪ The deli area showed off “food residue and dirt accumulation on the door frames inside the display cold cases.”

▪ Employees used rags and plastic film to fix leaking existing stoppers in the kitchen ware washing sinks which didn’t have sink stoppers.

▪ Outside, the “dumpster lids were kept open during the inspection and “accumulated trash, dirt and litter were around the back door and perimeter areas.”