The cooked tomatoes and peppers at Barbacoa Mexicana, a food stall in Chamblee’s Plaza Fiesta shopping center, were stored at room temperature in the hand-sink. They were discarded.
Other cooked items, such as beef, chicken and re-fried beans, stored on the prep table and the grill ledge, were also at room temperature. Much of the food was thrown away because it had been out of safe temperature range for more than four hours, according to the DeKalb County health inspector.
The inspector determined that some of the items were still good, and moved re-fried beans, boiled chicken and boiled tomatoes and peppers from the prep table into a cooler.
Barbacoa Mexican, 4166 Buford Highway, failed the routine inspection with a 54/U. The food stall had previous scores of 87/B and 75/C.
Other re-fried beans were thrown away because they had not properly cooled to prevent contamination. The inspector took points off because employees were not using effective methods for cooling potentially hazardous foods.
In other code violations, not all food items were covered between uses. Some food items in the reach-in cooler were stored incorrectly and at risk of contamination. Raw beef was on top of a container of pie filling. Raw chicken was stored with raw tilapia. Raw chicken was stored on top of corn tortillas.
Points were also taken off because dishes were not being sanitized after washing and rinsing. Bulk bags of dry cake mix were stored next to the hand-sink, and single service plastic cups were stored on the floor. These items were relocated.
Barbacoa Mexicana will be re-inspected. [Editor's Note: Barbacoa Mexicana passed the follow-up inspection with 75/C.]
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