A Duluth restaurant is closed after the Gwinnett County health department revoked its operating permit due to failing multiple inspections over the past year.
Kungfu Kitchen on Peachtree Industrial Boulevard sat closed this weekend after it earned a failing grade of 61 on its last health inspection May 7. After continued food safety violations, the county deemed it was no longer authorized to serve customers.
The move to shut down a restaurant is rare. The health department has only revoked about “half a dozen” restaurant permits in the past 15 years, said Joseph Sternberg, director of environmental health and injury prevention for the Gwinnett, Newton and Rockdale County health departments.
Previous inspections at KungFu Kitchen resulted in failing grades of 59 on June 13, 2018 and 35 on Jan. 25, 2019. The restaurant passed inspections on June 21, 2018 and Feb. 81, 2019 with scores of 81 and on Aug. 14, 2018 and an 80 on Nov. 28, 2018.
The health department recorded five total failed inspections for Kungfu Kitchen, Sternberg said. After the first two failed inspections, the health department stayed on site while managers fixed the issues they were cited for.
After the third failure, the restaurant had to present a written improvement plan to the department. After the fourth failure, the restaurant went through a hearing with health officials and an attorney present. The restaurant also had their permit to operate suspended temporarily following their third and fourth failures. The fifth failed inspection triggered the final revocation, Sternberg said.
“Their continuation of business posed a risk to the dining public,” Sternberg said.
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Phone calls to the now-closed restaurant went unanswered Tuesday.
In the past five health inspections, inspectors have noted raw meat and fish stored above vegetables and other foods, causing a risk of cross-contamination, the May 7 report says. The restaurant had also been cited for storing dirty dishes as clean three consecutive times and for the designated “person in charge” not “demonstrating active managerial control,” the report says.
In addition to those violations, the May 7 inspection noted raw fish stored in a sink that was designated for cleaning fruit and vegetables; “half-cooked” duck stored in a fridge; and employees failing to wash their hands.
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