Food service operations at President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida, and Trump National Golf Club in Jupiter, Florida, have been cited for violations in state inspections this year, but both met inspection standards and passed.
Inspectors passed food service operations under three different license numbers at Mar-a-Lago Club after finding eight basic violations, four intermediate violations and three high-priority violations during routine inspections in late January.
Two of the high-priority violations were because of foods in a reach-in cooler being held at temperatures greater than the required 41 degrees.
The other was for fish offered raw or under-cooked that has not undergone proper parasite destruction. The violation was corrected on site.
Mar-a-Lago general manager Bernd Lembcke said Thursday the violations were all rectified on Jan. 27, the day of the inspection. The temperature had risen in the cooler because the door had been inadvertently left open, he said.
Temperature violations where cold foods aren’t kept cold enough or hot foods hot enough are among the most common violations state inspectors find at restaurants in general.
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The food items were moved from the reach-in cooler to the walk-in cooler. They included shrimp, burger meat, poultry and hot dogs held at 49 degrees; duck, turkey, octopus, rice and beef at 50 degrees and ham at 57 degrees, the report states.
The chef called technicians to lower the setting, and the technician said the reach-in cooler had been on defrost and corrected the problem.
Mar-a-Lago’s kitchen was cited for intermediate violations, which found that both the reach-in and walk-in coolers were not maintained in good repair.
State inspectors observed no violations at Mar-a-Lago’s bed and breakfast facilities. Both passed with perfect inspections on Jan. 27.
Trump National Golf Club in Jupiter also passed inspection on March 8. The facilities operate under three different license numbers.
Inspectors noted four high-priority violations, four intermediate violations and four basic violations at the Jupiter club’s food service operations.
One of the high-priority violations was butter by the griddle being held at 77 degrees. It was immediately discarded.
Other high priority violations at the Jupiter club were a too-weak chlorine sanitizer for the dishwasher and a dishwasher sanitation temperature below the required 160-degree minimum.
Officials at the Jupiter club did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump International Golf Club in suburban West Palm Beach passed its last inspection on March 3, 2016, with three basic, one intermediate and one high-priority violation.
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