Behind the Kitchen Door: Meat grinder coated in leftover meat, employees with dirty hands cited during recent inspections

SAN ANTONIO – Four restaurants with scores in the 80s had plenty of violations to correct after recent visits from health inspectors.

Taqueria Los Dos Laredos

Taqueria Los Dos Laredos, located in the 400 block of South New Braunfels on the East Side, earned an 80.

Dirty pots, pans, and other utensils needed to be re-washed while spice containers were dirty on the inside and outside. Shelves, handles, and the insides of coolers needed to be cleaned and so did the floors and ceiling.

All expired food handler certificates needed to be renewed.

Herb & Pickle

Herb & Pickle, located in an office tower in the 1700 block of Northeast Loop 410, got an 81.

Their cold hold unit wasn’t cold enough, the inside of the ice machine was dirty, and the can opener was full of grime and dirt. The inspector noted an employee was seen cracking an egg while using gloves and then touching ready-to-eat food without changing the gloves or washing their hands.

Another employee was caught touching ready-to-eat food with bare hands and no hand-washing.

Medicine belonging to a worker was also found on a rack above ready-to-eat food.

Las Conchas

Las Conchas tortilleria and panaderia in the 1100 block of South General McMullen comes in with an 83.

They were cited for keeping the front and back doors propped open allowing insects to get inside. The front door was still propped open when KSAT Investigates stopped by this week.

Nymph roaches were found in a restroom and office area. Ants were also a problem at the business.

They were told to stop using t-shirt bags to store dough and they need to fix holes in the walls and repair a hot water heater for the hand sink.

A re-inspection was ordered.

Thrif-T-Mart

Thrif-T-Mart, located in the 6700 block of South Zarzamora, got an 85.

Unpackaged meat in the walk-in freezer was directly touching the wire rack and other meats. More meat was found stored on the floor in the same freezer.

A meat grinder and meat slicer had leftover meat and food debris stuck to them. The inspector noted both pieces of equipment were not being used at the time of the inspection and were left unattended.

An employee was observed putting on gloves without washing their hands. The inspector didn’t see anyone wash their hands during the inspection.

There were several flies in the kitchen and a door handle was soiled with residue.

Want to know who has good scores and who doesn’t? KSAT 12 has a new tool for that.

Just click this link, and it will take you to a new mapping tool we have showing the recent scores for San Antonio food businesses.

The reports go back six months and are frequently updated.

You can catch Tim’s BKD reports Thursday’s on the Nightbeat.

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