Season’s Bistro, an upscale restaurant at 41 Griffin Street in downtown McDonough, failed to pass a recent routine health inspection because cold food temperatures were hovering at unsafe levels.
Two coolers were mal-functioning during the Aug. 2 inspection, said manager Lynn Loggins, and that dropped the score to a 67 out of 100.
“That was the total reason for the score,” she said, adding that the coolers have since been repaired.
Potentially hazardous cold foods are supposed to be kept at 41 degrees or below, according to the state health code. At Season’s Bistro, temperatures of various cheeses, grilled chicken, roast beef, ham, tomatoes and sprouts were recorded near or slightly above 50 degrees, according to the inspector’s report.
The inspector noted that potentially hazardous foods were not cooling adequately for safety, and the reach-in coolers in particular were not maintaining temperatures of 41 degrees or below.
There were also storage problems in the freezer. Fresh raw meats were not separated from each other based on cook temperatures, or from other ready-to-eat foods. For example, raw chicken and raw beef were in the same container, which was touching some deli turkey. Raw pork was stored with raw beef tips and raw ground beef, according to the health report.
The restaurant was also marked down because some equipment needed repairs. Torn gaskets were found on coolers and freezers, and the deep freezer lid was repaired with tape.
Season’s Bistro is expecting a follow-up inspection Aug. 15 or later, Loggins said. Its previous score was an 81/B.
Here are other recent inspection scores from area restaurants.
Cherokee County
DeKalb County
Fulton County
Gwinnett County
Henry County
– by Laura Berrios for the Food & More blog
(Commenting is closed on this post.)