‘Mold-like grime’ and unsafe croquetas at a Coral Gables store steps from the UM campus
“Black, mold-like grime” in an ice machine and a hot holding case keeping food dangerously lukewarm were two of the issues during a failed state inspection at a convenience store next to the University of Miami campus.
Coral Gables’ The Munch by Pump & Munch, 5885 Ponce de Leon Blvd., is a block from Mark Light Stadium, where the Hurricanes baseball team plays.
The Munch whiffed on food safety and cleanliness when Florida Department of Agriculture inspector James Zheng and trainee Julio Azpurua dropped by Tuesday.
Here’s some of what they found:
▪ The store didn’t have a valid food permit.
▪ “Black mold-like grime encrusted in the interior housing and ice making portion of the ice machine.”
▪ There wasn’t a handwash sink near the ice machine in the backroom and the store packed ice for retail sale. So in “preventing contamination by hands,” the inspectors hit all the ice bags, all the scoops, utensils and the ice machine with Stop-Use Orders.
▪ The ice already bagged and for sale didn’t have the name, address and manufacturer. Stop Sale on that ice.
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▪ Packaged cut fruit and a tuna sandwich made in the store and in a reach-in cooler for customer grab-and-go convenience lacked packaging that revealed ingredients and sub-ingredients; net weight; and manufacturer information, including name, city, state and ZIP code. Stop Sales on the fruit and tuna.
▪ The backroom “walk-in cooler walls and ceiling were found with a heavy, mold-like substance and dust accumulation.”
▪ As for equipment in the food service area, there was “old food residue encrusted on the meat grip and under the blade protector of the slicer placed near the microwaves.”
▪ The hot holding case, which needed to keep foods above 135 degrees, measured a measly 98 to 102 degrees. That got a Stop-Use Order. The food inside measured 87 to 93 degrees and Stop Sales were showered on ham croquetas, cheese tequenos, chicken empanadas, guava and cheese pastelitos, beef pastries and Jamaican pastries.
▪ Food employees didn’t have anything keeping their hair from getting in the food.
▪ Each restaurants and grocery store must have a mop sink. The Munch didn’t. The store was given 30 days to get that done.
▪ “The wooden knock board used to knock out coffee grounds was found stored directly in the trash can where all trash is discarded, not just used coffee.” This violation might be the most common inspection violation in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale metropolitan area.
