Raw food storage, out-of-date label land Rock Hill restaurant a third C grade this year
A Rock Hill buffet restaurant has another C grade after a state health inspection Tuesday found raw food stored over cooked food and other items the kitchen with expired labels.
Ginza Buffet scored a 74 on a 100-point scale. The state health department rates anything lower than a 78 score as a C grade, meaning food safety practices need significant improvement.
Co-owner and manager Ting Ting Chen emailed The Herald on Friday stating several of the violations were isolated incidents and staff is being re-trained on others.
Ginza Buffet also got a C grade for its March 11 inspection, and for a separate one the following day. The most recent score prior to Tuesday’s inspection was a perfect 100, A grade, on March 15.
The health department scoring system takes into account a history of violations. That’s why Ginza got a C for its March 12 follow-up despite earning 91 points, which normally would be an A grade. The C grade was given due to violations left uncorrected from the day prior.
The most recent score would be a C grade, based on point total, regardless of prior infractions.
Details of the latest restaurant inspection
This week’s inspection found raw shrimp stored over cooked crab in a cook line. Foods from rice to beef to chicken weren’t kept hot or cold enough, according to state requirements. Those items included some raw foods on the hibachi bar.
The inspection also noted cut potatoes in a bucket on the floor, to-go containers used as scoops and an employee washing hands in a food prep sink.
The state requires ready-to-eat foods to be discarded after seven days based on a temperature and time combination, or if the packaged isn’t date-marked. Some such foods were still present beyond their discard date.
The food with the wrong discard date was a labeling error and not expired food, where staff forgetting to update a label led to an old date being mistaken for the correct one, Chen said.
The shrimp being stored over cooked food was an oversight in an area with several large coolers that normally is stacked correctly, Chen said. A chef was temporarily interrupted when potatoes were left in a bucket on the floor and staff is being trained to prevent something similar in the future, Chen said.
A follow-up inspection for the 2275 Dave Lyle Blvd. restaurant is required within 10 days.
Ginza now has three of the 10 C grades given to York County restaurants this year. It’s also one of three restaurants with multiple C grades. There have been almost 850 inspections throughout the county.
Lancaster County restaurants combine for five C grades this year, out of almost 260 inspections. There hasn’t been a C grade in Chester County, among 82 inspections there.
This story was originally published May 8, 2024 at 12:05 PM.
