The Great Wall restaurant, owned by Star Light Lin, Inc., and located at 544 Tenney St, closed last week by order of the Henry & Stark County Health Departments. The health department made the decision following a routine inspection of the restaurant on Oct. 26.
The health department’s order comes just a year and a half after the restaurant was closed due to multiple health code violations including improper storage of toxic substances, inadequate hand washing stations, food items being stored on the floor, and problems with the physical facility such as unclean surfaces throughout the restaurant.
Several of those violations were found again as the inspection yielded over 25 observations in need of corrective actions. This time around, the inspector cited food safety and handling, food temperatures, cleanliness and plumbing issues.
Among the complaints was a lack of a vomit and diarrheal event procedure and kit in place, but more serious offenses included an employee not washing hands between changing tasks. The inspector witnessed an employee touch raw meats before touching ready to eat food items from a prep table.
A sink used for hand washing was used for other purposes such as cleaning out dishes and “was clogged with onions.”
One employee was observed rolling a sushi roll with single use gloves before walking into the freezer and touching multiple surfaces with the same gloves. That action goes against the health code requiring that single use gloves be used for only one task.
Violations of food storage and prep were also noted, as was food contact surfaces, such as the cooking area, being soiled with food debris. When the inspector observed battered shrimp that appeared half cooked sitting at a temperature of 109 degrees and inquired about it, the employee reported that they “stopped cooking the shrimp because you’re here doing an inspection.”
Inadequate temperatures of buffet food, outdated wonton wrappers from Oct. 19, lack of a buffet temperature log, an open container of peeled potatoes at risk of contamination were also among the observations.
A whisk used for mixing soy sauce was also found broken with, “broken pieces of whisk laying directly in soy sauce.”
Several citations also noted issues of cleanliness. The report stated that “nonfood-contact surfaces of equipment shall be cleaned at a frequency necessary to preclude accumulation of soil residues,” and the inspection revealed that “clean knives and forks are stored on a wall magnet above the hand washing sink that is soiled in food residue.”
Additional comments at the end of the report stated that the violations presented “imminent health hazards,” and those hazards led to the health authorities’ decision to close the establishment and suspend the food permit.
The inspection stated that “an in-office compliance conference will be held to determine the future of the. . . food establishment.” According to the HSCHD, no date has been set for that meeting.
