5 Tri-Cities area restaurants, hotel fail food safety inspections

Annette Cary
·4 min read

The Benton Franklin Health District gave five failing grades in food safety inspections of restaurants and other establishments selling food in the Tri-Cities area April 6-12.

The health district’s food safety team gave passing grades on 18 inspections, with six of those awarded perfect scores.

In the district’s routine inspections, businesses or organizations that receive at least 35 points for the more serious red violations are required to have additional inspections and must meet a tougher standard on those.

To pass followup inspections, they must have fewer than 25 red points and fewer than 10 repeat red points for previous issues.

Scores of 85 or more red points result in establishments remaining on probation until they pass two follow-up inspections, the first one within 72 hours.

Red violations are those most likely to cause food-borne illnesses, such as improper temperature control of food, lack of adequate handwashing or bare-hand contact with foods.

Blue violations are low risk factors related to the cleanliness and physical condition of an establishment.

No notice is given before the inspections.

Businesses may have separate inspections of business lines with different health safety risks, such as grocery sales and a deli that prepares food.

Inspection results are posted online so residents can look up the status and the details of any violations of individual restaurants or check other businesses.

Go to bit.ly/BFHDinspections. Click on the business name and then on the date of the inspection on the right half of the next page. Look for the “Violations” tab.

Failed inspections

Burger King, 4501 Road 68, Pasco, Routine April 12 (55 Red, 0 Blue)

Notes: Lack of active managerial control (too many red points), improper hand washing, improper cooking temperatures or unattended cooking and hot holding (raw animal foods must be cooked to proper temperature).

Excalibur Pizza, 420 S. Vancouver St., Kennewick, Routine April 10 (40 Red, 0 Blue)

Notes: Lack of active managerial control (no certified food protection manager on staff), bare hand contact with ready-to-eat foods (employee touched ice when grabbing scoop), raw meat improperly stored, accurate thermometer not provided or used.

Holiday Inn Richland, 802 George Washington Way, Richland, Routine April 12 (40 Red, 8 Blue)

Notes: Food worker cards not 100%, room temperature storage or improper use of time as a control, improper cold holding (>45°F).

TakaSushi, 602 6th St., Prosser, Routine April 12 (40 Red, 10 Blue)

Notes: Lack of active managerial control (no certified food protection manager on staff), food worker cards not 100%, room temperature storage or improper use of time as a control, improper cold holding (42-45°F).

Teriyaki Grill, 7600 W. Clearwater Ave., Kennewick, Routine April 10 (50 Red, 0 Blue)

Notes: Lack of active managerial control (no certified food protection manager on staff), inadequate handwashing facilities, improper cooling procedures, lack of conformance with approved procedures.

Passed inspections

Dax’s Bar & Grill, 1004 Lee Blvd., Richland, Routine April 9 (0 Red, 5 Blue)

Denny’s Restaurant, 2801 W. Kennewick Ave., Kennewick, Routine April 12 (10 Red, 5 Blue)

Dutch Bros, 4305 W. 27th Place Kennewick, Routine April 10 (5 Red, 0 Blue)

Edison Elementary School, 201 S. Dawes St., Kennewick, Routine April 9 (0 Red, 0 Blue)

El Guerrero Hotdogs, 931 W. Court St., Pasco, Routine April 12 (15 Red, 0 Blue)

Fresh Squeezed Lemonade (Cart), 109 W. Kennewick Ave., Kennewick, Routine April 12 (5 Red, 3 Blue)

Hampton Inn & Suites, 6826 Burden Blvd., Pasco, Routine April 12 (10 Red, 0 Blue)

Jack In The Box, 7214 Burden Blvd., Pasco, Routine April 12 (0 Red, 0 Blue)

Kennewick Child Development Center, 16 N. Huntington St., Kennewick, Routine April 9 (0 Red, 0 Blue)

McDonald’s, 2751 Queensgate Drive, Richland, Routine April 8 (10 Red, 0 Blue)

Phoenix High School, 1315 W. 4th Ave., Kennewick, Routine April 9 (0 Red, 0 Blue)

Pizza Hut, 818 Vineyard Drive, Kennewick, Routine April 8 (5 Red, 0 Blue)

Richland Health Foods (Store), 1769 George Washington Way, Richland, Routine April 9 (10 Red, 0 Blue)

SM Produce for Less, 135 Vista Way, Kennewick, Routine April 10 (15 Red, 0 Blue)

Swampy’s BBQ, 215 E. Columbia Drive, Kennewick, Routine April 10 (0 Red, 0 Blue)

Taqueria Oaxaca, 7425 W. Clearwater Ave., Kennewick, Follow-up April 10 (5 Red, 0 Blue)

Taqueria Stacks, 813 W. Columbia Drive, Kennewick, Routine April 10 (0 Red, 0 Blue)

Three City Sports Bar, 900 W. Columbia Drive, Kennewick, Routine April 10 (20 Red, 0 Blue)