RESTAURANT INSPECTION: China East Cited for 12 Violations, 9 Repeats

The Prince William Health District cited the China East Restaurant, located at 6838 Piedmont Center Plaza in Gainesville, March 10 for 12 violations of the health code, 9 of which were repeated from the last inspection.

The restaurant was previously inspected May 6, 2014.

According to the Health District report, the critical violations include:

Critical Repeat: Raw meat, poultry, shell eggs, & seafood stored over ready-to-eat (RTE) foods in the walk-in cooler.

Critical Repeat: The raw animal foods is stored in a manner that may cause biological cross contamination of meat, poultry, shell eggs, or seafood.

Other non-critical violations included:

• Repeat: Food in walk-in cooler was not in covered containers, or wrapped.
• Repeat: Rice scoops improperly stored between uses.
• Repeat: Food stored less than 6" above the floor in the walk-in refrigeration units.
• Repeat: Plastic bottle racks used as storage platforms in the walk-in freezer.
• Repeat (Corrected During Inspection): Accumulation of food debris on food scoops in bulk food storage bins.
• Repeat (Corrected During Inspection): Soap at the hand washing sink by the tea urn.
• Less than 20 foot candles of light was noted in the restrooms. Measured 10-15 foot-candles.
• Repeat: Dead lamps / bulbs in kitchen ceiling & in exhaust hood.
• Kitchen hand washing sink faucet broken.
• (Corrected During Inspection): Plumber's snake stored in such a way that it may contaminate food items & clean food equipment.

Click here to search for detailed information about this restaurant.

“Restaurant inspections are normally scheduled for one to four inspections per year, depending on the complexity of the menu, how much food is made from raw products, and how much is made in advance rather than cooked-to-order,” the agency states on their website.

When violations are observed during a routine inspection, they are detailed in a report and classified as either critical (posing a direct or immediate threat to consumers) or non-critical (a failure of cleaning or maintenance), the agency said.

These inspections are considered by the Health District as a snapshot of a specific day of operation.

According to the agency: “Ideally, an operation would have no critical violations, or none which are not corrected immediately and not repeated. In our experience, it is unrealistic to expect that a complex, full-service food operation can routinely avoid any violations.”