Pema's in Alexandria Racks Up 8 Critical Health Violations

By Raytevia Evans
The state health department recently inspected a few restaurants in the Alexandria area. For prior restaurant inspection reports, click here.


In Virginia, restaurant inspection reports aren't quite as simple as getting a letter grade or an easy-to-see number rating to post in the front window.

That said, we all want to know how our favorite restaurants stack up on cleanliness and sanitation. Inspectors grade restaurants based on critical and non-critical violations.

A "critical violation" is one that "poses a direct or immediate threat to the safety of the food being served." Non-critical violations are generally related to cleaning or maintenance.

"Ideally, an operation would have no critical violations, or none which are not corrected immediately and not repeated. In our experience, it is unrealistic to expect that a complex, full-service food operation can routinely avoid any violations," according to Virginia Department of Health's website.

The site continues: "Keep in mind that any inspection report is a 'snapshot' of the day and time of the inspection. On any given day, a restaurant could have fewer or more violations than noted in the report. An inspection conducted on any given day may not be representative of the overall, long-term cleanliness of an establishment."

Below, find the latest restaurant inspection from the Virginia Department of Health. These inspections reflect visits from inspectors during the last few weeks. Some of the violations were corrected immediately during the recent inspections.

The full reports can be accessed on the health department's website.

Pema's
8430 Richmond Hwy.
Date of inspection: Sept. 5
Critical (corrected during inspections): The person in charge failed to state the minimum cook temperatures and times for potentially hazardous food(s): veal.
Critical (corrected during inspections): One or more of the elements of an effective employee health policy is either missing or incomplete. A complete employee health policy is required to be in place at the food establishment.
Critical (corrected during inspection): A food employee was observed handling the following ready-to-eat food using their bare hands: parsley, lemon, radish.
Critical (corrected during inspection): Raw animal food holding in a manner that may cause cross contamination of ready-to-eat food as follows: raw pork sausage over oil and garlic mix in 2dr prep cooler, raw veal over cooked pasta, raw bacon over drinks in walk-in cooler.
Critical (corrected during inspection): The following equipment/utensils were observed soiled to sight and touch: peelers, knives, scoop.
Critical (corrected during inspection): Equipment food-contact surfaces/utensils were not observed cleaned after any possible contamination. Observed employee putting raw shrimp over cutting board on prep cooler but did not clean and sanitize afterwards.
Critical (corrected during inspection): The following food item(s) were observed cold holding at improper temperatures using a calibrated food temperature measuring device: Provolone cheese (46F), deli ham (48F) on prep top.
Critical: A review of the menu with the foodservice operator indicates that there is no consumer advisory for the following food item(s) that may be served raw and/or undercooked: cooked to serve steak.
Non-critical: Water from the hand washing sink in the kitchen was measured at a temperature less than 100 degrees. There is no hot water at this hand sink.

Taco Bell
8652 Richmond Hwy
Date of inspection: Sept. 5
Critical (corrected during inspection): One or more of the elements of an effective employee health policy is either missing or incomplete. A complete employee health policy is required to be in place at the food establishment.
Critical (corrected during inspection): The following food item(s) were observed cold holding at improper temperatures using a calibrated food temperature measuring device: shredded three cheese (49F), shredded cheddar cheese (49F), shredded jack cheese (47F) on prep top - left.

Burger King
9120 Richmond Hwy
Date of inspection: Sept. 3
Critical (corrected during inspection): A food employee was observed eating in an area other than designated break area while preparing/handling food or contacting clean food contact surfaces. Open drinking containers stored in a manner that may contaminate food, food contact surfaces or utensils.