Windsor and Essex County Health unit provides different sort of restaurant guide

By Frances Willick
The Windsor Star
September 10, 2010

WINDSOR, Ont. — Sewage backups in food storage areas. Restaurants with sleeping quarters. Unclean staff members. Unsanitary premises.

Windsor-area food establishments have now been busted - publicly - by the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit for food safety infractions.

Food safety ratings of hundreds of establishments are officially available online for the first time today. The ratings use a star system to denote the level of food safety witnessed by health unit inspectors at the time of inspection. A rating of five stars reflects excellent compliance with the province’s food regulations, while fewer stars reflects a lower degree of compliance.

Of the 1,806 establishments rated on the Safe Food Counts website Thursday, seven establishments got a one-star rating, which is classified as “needs improvement” by the health unit.

Eight establishments received a two-star rating, described as “fair,” 39 got three stars, or a “good” rating, and the remainder received four or five stars, classified as “very good” and “excellent.”

The Royal Pita Bakery at 701 Wyandotte St. E., was closed by the health unit in June after inspectors deemed it an “immediate health hazard.”

Manager Marven Dawod said he voluntarily closed the business for about a week immediately after heavy rains caused sewage water to flood into the basement of the establishment where canned goods were stored. He said he contacted health inspectors of his own volition to ensure that the business complied with health standards, and has since remedied the problems and renovated the basement.

Dawod said he doesn’t believe customers pay much attention to the star ratings. The bakery, along with the adjacent Dijla Al Forat Market, received just one food safety star.

“We’re established, we’ve been open for 12 years and we’ve never had a complaint from one customer. We have a great business, a great product,” Dawod said. “I don’t think our customers would care about that because they already know what they’re stepping into.”

Inspectors also noted the establishment was not free from visible evidence of pest infestation and that premises was not maintained in a sanitary condition.

The bakery and store received a four-star rating during their last inspection in December.

East Pizza Plus 2, located at 4691 Wyandotte St. E., also saw its rating drop to one star from its previous four-star rating in January. Manager Henry Devan said the restaurant’s rating fell because two of the pizzeria’s fridges broke down the day the inspector arrived.

“I called the (repair) guy the same day and he came that night,” Devan said. “Now I have to hold on to one star for six months. That’s unfair.”

The restaurant was also cited for not being adequately protected from the entrance of pests and for failing to store food on racks, shelves or pallets.

La Cucina owner Louie Zaffino expressed outrage about the inspection system after his Lesperance Road restaurant received a one-star rating. That establishment’s infractions included a lack of thermometers in temperature-controlled environments, unclean or unsanitary conditions, inadequately maintained ventilation and a sink that didn’t have required supplies at hand. “My dishwasher is one degree off. Well excuse me, one degree is not going to make a big difference,” he said. ‘Now we have to wait four months and get punished because of this. Because of a stupid paper towel.”

That restaurant got two stars in January and one star in September 2009.

Other businesses that received one-star ratings include the Chiki Shack in Leamington, Sun Hong BBQ House, Trevi Pizzeri`a and The Blind Dog. 

Buffet World, located at 3184 Dougall Ave., got two stars despite the inspector’s discovery of rooms used for sleeping purposes on the premises.

Other two-star establishments include the Baled Food Market, Beirut Café and Lounge, Ho Wah restaurant, Li’s Restaurant, Little Caesars in St. Clair Beach and Red Sail Restaurant. Tiffany’s Dining Lounge, which was also rated with two stars, was noted for having food handlers who were either not clean or who were not wearing clean outer garments.

Among the three-star food establishments were the Market Buffet at Caesar’s Windsor, Essex High School, and the University of Windsor’s The Bru.

In 2008, the Ontario Public Health Standards mandated all health units to publicly disclose food safety inspection results. The local health unit began its Safe Food Counts program in 2009. The health unit website states that though the scores are reflective of food safety conditions at the time of the inspection, "the score may not reflect the overall, long-term standards of the business. It also does not represent the quality (e.g., taste, nutrition, customer service, etc.) of the food served at the premises."

The food safety ratings can be viewed online at www.safefoodcounts.ca.

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