Eatery fined $20,000 for food safety violations

Brendan Kennedy Staff reporter
Published On Tue Nov 17 2009 The Toronto Star

A takeout restaurant in Scarborough was fined $20,000 - the maximum
penalty - after pleading guilty to four food-safety violations,
including a "heavy" cockroach infestation. 

The guilty plea last Friday by Chandra's Takeout Restaurant and
Catering, at 201 Markham Rd., related to problems that closed it Aug. 24
to Aug. 28. It has since reopened and passed full inspections on Aug. 28
and Nov. 6. 

The restaurant was fined $5,000 for each of four infractions: not
controlling a pest/insect infestation; failing to protect food from
contamination; not having a certified food handler; and for obstructing
Toronto Public Health's red closure sign while the restaurant was shut
down in August.

Jim Chan, manager of the Food Safety Program at Toronto Public Health,
told the Star today that, when a health inspector visited the restaurant
Aug. 24, live cockroaches could be seen running around the food
preparation area. Also, meat and other perishable food was being stored
at room temperature.

According to Toronto Public Health's website, which posts the results of
previous inspections, the restaurant also failed to provide hand-washing
supplies to employees, or sanitize food preparation areas and utensils.

Chan said that when an inspector returned to the restaurant on Aug. 28,
the problems that triggered the closure were corrected. 

He expressed surprise that a Justice of the Peace at the Toronto East
Court Office hit the eatery with the maximum fine, particularly the
$5,000 for not having a certified handler -- an offence he says usually
results in fines ranging from $200 to $1,000. But Chan welcomed the
stiff punishment.

"This operator had been warned back in April," Chan said. "The inspector
actually gave the operator quite a long time to get the certification
done."

The fines "send a very strong message to food operators in general," he
said.

It's not the first time Chandra's Takeout has run into trouble with
public health, receiving two yellow conditional passes over the past 18
months.

On April 6, inspectors found it failed to provide adequate pest control,
control food temperature and properly sanitize utensils and equipment.
It passed an inspection April 9. It was also given a warning July 15,
2008 for pest and sanitation issues but passed an inspection three days
later. 

The restaurant is owned and operated by Chandrakathiyamma Anantharajah,
according to its corporation profile, and has been in operation since
1995. 

Anantharajah was not at the restaurant Monday night, and a woman who
answered the phone refused to comment.