Embody Fitness Gourmet, which serves food at Equinox fitness club, 72 Heights Rd. in Noroton Heights, has had a string of “Poor” and “Fair” health inspection reports for that location over the past year, although the most recent inspection found improvements.
Gillen Bryan, owner and founder of Embody, said on Friday that his establishment has had some problems, but they’ve been largely fixed. The biggest problem was with a refrigeration unit which was opened a lot by employees getting things, he said.
“I accept full responsibility for this violation [with the refrigeration unit],” Bryan said. The unit has been adjusted to make sure food now is kept cold enough.
This certificate from the Darien Health Department shows the town rating and is supposed to be posted by every food-serving estabilshment.
In the Darien Health Department’s Good/Fair/Poor ratings system, and the state’s scoring system, in which 100 is a perfect score and anything below 80 is deemed serious enough to indicate follow-up inspections.
Most food serving establishments in Darien get “Good” ratings, sometimes a mixed rating of “Fair” or a rating of “Poor.” Most get state scores in the 90s, most of the time. (Darienite will soon publish a list of all scores, state and local, of restaurants inspected since early May.)
Here’s how Embody Fitness Gourmet did since July 2014 (we have included state ratings only as far back as June 25, 2015):
- July 31, 2014 — Darien Health Department Rating: Poor
- Aug. 7, 2014 — Fair
- Nov. 20, 2014 — Fair
- Feb. 27, 2015 — Fair
- June 25 — Poor — state score: 86
- July 8 — Poor — state score: 79
- July 20 — Good — state score: 94
Embody also has a location at the Darien YMCA, 2420 Post Rd. Its Darien ratings there were Poor on Feb. 10 and Fair on both Feb. 19 and July 22 (with a state score of 89 for the July 22 inspection). That location hasn’t had as many inspections as the Heights Road location, typically an indication that the Darien Health Department has a lower level of concern.
Here are quotes excerpted from the most recent inspection reports by town health inspectors, together with some responses from Bryan (in italics). Semicolons (“;”) separate individual code violations mentioned in the reports. In some cases, Bryan’s response applies to several quotes from the inspection reports:
June 25 — Darien rating: Poor — State score: 86
“Unclean floors; ice scoop stored in ice bin; light uncovered in display case; display case [temperature] at 50-53 degrees, almond milk at 63 degrees, skim milk expired; must use three steps for sanitizing”
Bryan’s response: A refrigeration unit wasn’t working well-enough after employees needed to frequently open the door. “We called somebody, had them look at it and get the problem fixed. […] Inspection reports […] got poor ratings largely because of this refrigerator. We rectified the problem.” At a later point the refrigeration unit was still reading a higher temperature than the Health Department said was acceptable, so an adjustment was made. The container of skim milk had not been in use or even opened. “It looks like we screwed up our inventory.”
July 8 — Poor — 79
“Moldy whole pineapples in upright fridge; hard-boiled eggs at 61 [degrees] and sprouts at 53 [degrees] (top of unit); food thermometer not accurate; food stored on the floor in dry storage (large bags of beets and carrots); storing utensils in food and ice; only utilizing 2 bay in the 3-bay sink, first bay is used to thaw frozen fruit; utensils not stored cleaned, interior of refrigeration unclean; in-use utensils not stored properly; crates used as shelving […]; current permit and rating not displayed.”
Bryan’s response: He recalled one pineapple, which hadn’t been cut up yet, that had a bit of mold on it. “In that situation, we cut deeply away from any outside spot on the fruit, which, to my knowledge, is a perfectly safe way to handle fruit.”
The hard-boiled eggs were “probably taken out of the ice pack early and put in the refrigerator when they weren’t cold enough” because they were about to be served quickly, he said. “A violation? Yes. A bit of a tight one to swallow.”
When the inspector came, employees were using one of the sinks to thaw fruit, but the establishment now makes sure that the three-step/three-sink process for cleaning food is followed, he said. The establishment has bought storage racks that keep food bags and containers off the floor.
“We started storing sprouts in a deeper part of the refrigerator as a result of that inspection.”
July 20 — Good — 94
Like most good ratings of Darien food-serving establishments, some things were found wrong (hardly any inspection comes up with no problems at all and a perfect 100 state score).
“Storing items in the hand sink; storing ice scoop on counter; chipped/broken storage containers; front of cabinets and other non-food-contact surfaces unclean.” The inspector also remarked (but didn’t cite as a violation): “Current permit not posted! Looking much better; please continue down this path.”
Bryan’s response: The health inspection certificate was taken down at one point when Equinox was doing some renovations. It is back up now.
Bryan said he spoke with both Health Director David Knauf and Sanitarian Mindy Chambrelli about the problems brought up in recent inspections. He said he told them that he’s instituted a bonus system for managers whose locations get good health inspection ratings (with scores of 95 or better).
“The problem didn’t come from having a health issue like a rodent or something, or keeping very unkempt conditions,” he said. He added that at one point he fired a manager “as a result of not following directions.”
Darien Health Director David Knauf has said that if a food-serving establishment in town is actually considered dangerous, it would be shut down. He added that that hasn’t happened while he’s been health director.
Darienite.com will report on town Health Department ratings and the state scores inspectors give for individual restaurants and other food-serving establishments in town. Food-serving establishments with a string of both “Poor” and “Fair” reports may be covered in detail with an article.
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