Two Polk County restaurants were closed temporarily by inspectors in the past month, one of them for insect activity, according to state inspection reports.
McDonald’s restaurant at 2815 U.S. 98 North in Lakeland, just south of Griffin Road, was closed on July 21 after receiving nine violations, three of which were a high priority. Among the violations, an inspector found 25 live flies on a wall under a three-compartment sink and 40 fly larvae in standing water in the same area. The inspector also issued a stop-sale on some items after finding about 70 ants on dry storage shelving and in the case of syrup, oatmeal, and cranberry and raisin packets. The inspector also noted one dead roach in dry storage. The restaurant passed a follow-up inspection the following day with only one basic violation related to a cracked floor.
Mi Pueblo Chicken, 2701 Swindell Road in Lakeland, received 12 violations on July 16, three of them high-priority. Among the high-priority violations, an inspector noted cooked rice stored in a non-food-grade container – in this case, a “Thank you” bag – and raw beef stored over raw oysters in the reach-in cooler. The inspector also noted a “grey soapy wastewater” on the ground behind the women’s restroom. Another violation seemed to indicate the wastewater in this case was coming from a line from the three-compartment sink that first passed through the grease trap. The restaurant passed a follow-up inspection the next day with zero violations.
Smaller insect problems?
Not all insect activity results in warnings that require follow-up inspections. In the period from July 3 to 23, about a half-dozen restaurants in Polk had minor insect issues — a small number of flies or dead roaches — but ultimately met standards in their inspections.
Two restaurants had these types of smaller insect issues but still received warnings or administrative complaints that required a follow-up inspection.
Taqueria Mi Preferida, a restaurant in the Lakeland Mi Pueblo Flea Market at 2701 Swindell Road — the same open-air market as Mi Pueblo Chicken, just west of Kathleen High School — was handed an administrative complaint on July 16 and a follow-up inspection ordered on. The inspector noted five dead roaches on the premises – a basic violation. The only high-priority violation in the report was for a wastewater hose running into the parking lot. A follow-up inspection had not been logged in state reports as of Friday.
Outback Steakhouse, 5255 S. Florida Ave., was given a warning July 20 and a follow-up inspection. But in this case, the insect violation was one that wouldn’t, by itself, require follow-up – one fly by the mop sink. But among Outback’s four total violations, two were related to a dish machine that wasn’t heating water to a proper sanitizing temperature of 160 degrees. The restaurant was ordered to switch to manual sanitization until the dish machine was fixed. As of Friday, no follow-up inspection was logged in state reports.