Canton restaurant bombs health inspection with filthy 52 score

A Canton restaurant is facing a follow-up inspection after health inspectors found more than a dozen violations Monday, including food being held at unsafe temperatures, a bartender handling food with bare hands after touching dirty dishes, and equipment stored as clean that was visibly covered in food debris.

Hickory Flat Kitchen, at 6205 Hickory Flat Highway, scored a 52 out of 100 on a routine inspection conducted August 3, earning an unsatisfactory rating. A score below 70 is considered failing in Georgia. Inspectors noted there was no active managerial control in the kitchen and that the certified food safety manager on site was not fulfilling the responsibilities required by state law.

Bare hands, dirty surfaces, and food at unsafe temperatures

Among the most serious findings, inspectors observed a bartender handling ready-to-eat foods, including limes, with bare hands after touching dirty customer dishes and handling payments, with no handwashing in between. A drink was served to a customer before any corrective action could be taken.

Inspectors also saw the person in charge drop a pen on the floor, pick it up, and place it directly on a cutting board where sandwiches are cut before plating. That violation was corrected on the spot.

Multiple refrigeration failures put food at unsafe temperatures. All temperature-controlled foods in a prep unit across from the fryer were running between 47 and 54 degrees Fahrenheit, well above the required 41 degrees. Buttermilk was found sitting at 74 degrees in an ice bath that was not making proper contact with the container. Mashed potatoes in a steam table were holding at 128 degrees, and caramelized onions and mushrooms on the stove were at 124 and 127 degrees, all below the required 135-degree minimum for hot foods. All affected food was discarded.

Dirty equipment stored as clean

Inspectors found the deli slicer, multiple dicers, vegetable slicers, and graters all stored as clean but visibly dirty with food debris. Clean and dirty dishes were mixed together in dirty bins and stored as clean. At the bar, glassware was stored face down on dirty mats and on dirty shelves inside a freezer that had employee hair on the shelf. The person in charge told inspectors the items would be cleaned at closing. That violation was not corrected during the inspection and was flagged as a repeat.

Cooling failures and recordkeeping problems

Soup prepared around 2:45 in the afternoon had not cooled to 70 degrees within the required two-hour window. At 5:15 p.m., it was still at 100 degrees. By 7 p.m., it had only reached 79 degrees. State rules require cooked food to drop from 135 degrees to 70 degrees within two hours, and to 41 degrees within six hours total. The soup was discarded.

Inspectors also found green beans and soup cooling in deep, tightly covered containers in the walk-in cooler, and meatloaf cooling while covered with about 45 minutes left in its cooling window and a center temperature of about 50 degrees. Those items were corrected during the inspection. Inspectors noted that evening staff were unaware of or not monitoring items that had been placed in cooling by the morning shift, and recommended the restaurant keep a cooling log.

Blanched fries using a time-based food safety method were labeled with a time window of 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 4:35 p.m., even though new fries had been brought out an hour earlier and the label was never updated. That was also flagged as a repeat violation.

Handwashing sink blocked, employee drinks on prep surfaces

A large number of dishes were found stored inside the handwashing sink in the warewash area, blocking its use. State rules require handwashing sinks to be accessible at all times and used only for handwashing. The dishes were removed during the inspection.

Two employee drinks were found stored directly on the cutting board of a prep unit. They were moved during the inspection.

Utensils stored in water on the stove were sitting in water at 100 degrees. State rules require that water to be at least 135 degrees. The water was discarded and the utensils were replaced.

Hickory Flat Kitchen is scheduled for a follow-up inspection.

B.T. Clark

Publisher at The Georgia Sun – btclark@thegeorgiasun.com – Web

B.T. Clark is the Publisher of The Georgia Sun and author of Principles Are Like Pants… You Ought to Have Some. Over two decades in journalism, he has served as Managing Editor of Neighbor Newspapers in metro Atlanta and Digital Director at Times-Journal Inc., earning multiple awards along the way. His work has appeared in newspapers across the state, including The Cherokee Tribune and The Marietta Daily Journal.