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Health Director: Chipotle Seems to Have Had Problems Training Employees in Health Practices

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Recent health problems at various Chipotle restaurants across the country and health code violations found at two of the restaurants in Darien have town Health Director David Knauf concerned about the company’s training practices for food handlers. After problems with outbreaks of e. coli bacteria at various locations (not in Connecticut) and norovirus at a Chipotle restaurant in Boston, the company announced recently that it would change its procedures to keep and handle food safer. Among the changes: The company said it would put uncooked onions in boiling water briefly to kill some germs; test samples of meat before shipping it to restaurants; marinate chicken in plastic bags rather than bowls; and chop tomatoes and cilantro in centralized locations rather than at stores. The company told ABC News last week: “With all these program components in place, we will be able to reduce the risk of contamination within our system to a level near zero.” But Knauf doesn’t think that addresses a central problem: “It’s not a question of the food sources — it’s a question of practices within the establishment,” he said.

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Health Director: Restaurant’s ‘Fair’ Inspection Rating Should’ve Been ‘Poor’

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A health inspection report for a restaurant in town led to an unusual reaction from Darien Health Director David Knauf:

He said the inspector’s description of the health violations was more serious than the “Fair” rating the inspector gave, and Knauf ordered a new inspection to make sure problems were being fixed. Fuji’s Restaurant at 111 Old Kings Hwy. S. received a “Fair” rating in a Dec. 22 inspection, which noted several violations regarding:

sanitizing (“sanitizer solution not adequate; food contact surfaces not sanitized every four hours; proper sanitizing not achieved; wiping cloths not kept in sanitizer between use”) and
other violations mentioning lack of cleaning (“upper shelving of prep tables unclean; hood unclean, fryer unclean; floors in kitchen unclean; utensils stored stoiled and not in use on equipment”). A full quote of the inspector’s remarks and links to the report online are presented at the bottom of this article, along with ratings and information on other recent restaurant inspections.

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Two Chipotle Restaurants in Town Get ‘Poor’ Ratings in Health Inspections

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As the Chipotle restaurant chain has had problems with various outbreaks sickening its customers, the Darien Health Department conducted inspections at two of the chain’s restaurants in town and rated each of them “Poor” on the department’s rating system. One other town restaurant was given a “Good” rating in the latest health inspections announced by the department. The reports from a health inspector noted chicken at too low a temperature at the Chipotle in the Darien North rest stop on Interstate 95 and (at the Chipotle at 71 Post Road rice in a walk-in cooler at 50 degrees — not cold enough (details from each inspection are below). Elsewhere

Recently some customers in Massachusetts were sickened from a novovirus after eating at Chipotle, and, in the months before that, E. coli outbreaks among people who ate at Chipotle restaurants were reported in various states. Some of the customers became sick in October and November.

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Latest Darien Restaurant Health Inspections: One ‘Poor’, One ‘Fair’, Eight ‘Good’

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One food-serving establishment in town received a “Poor” rating, another “Fair” and eight others “Good” in the latest inspection reports from Darien Health Department, which can now be found online. How the ratings systems and scores work

Restaurants in town are rated under the Darien Health Department’s own Good/Fair/Poor ratings system. Health inspectors also use the state health code regulations to score restaurants, with a perfect score set at 100, and demerits (of 1 to 4 points each) for various code violations. The Darien system takes into account problems that are ongoing or that have been fixed, so a restaurant scoring higher than others on the state scale may actually get a lower score on the Darien scale, or vice versa. You can find the past several inspection ratings under the Darien ratings system for food-serving establishments on this website, and now you can also find copies of inspection reports in the same place.

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You Can Now Read Full Health Inspection Reports on Darien Restaurants Online

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Before you go out to dine at a restaurant in town (or even if you’re staying in), you can now check out the entire reports of health inspections at that food-serving establishment, sometimes going back a whole year. It’s all on the same Web pages where Darien Health Department has been posting its “plates” ratings of “Good,” “Fair” and “Poor” for food-serving establishments in town. You can check out your favorite restaurants and others (more than 100 establishments, including snack bars,  school cafeterias and wherever food is sold for consumption on the spot) right here. On the website, run by the town Health Department, allows you to search for restaurants in various ways. We had some trouble finding the link to the full inspection reports when we searched directly for the name of the restaurant — instead, search by the first letter of the name, then when that list of restaurants comes up in alphabetical order, click on the one you’re looking for.

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Health

Latest Health Dept Restaurant Inspections: 1 Good, 2 Fair, 2 Poor

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Two food-serving establishments in town received “Poor” ratings, two more received ratings of “Fair” and only one a “Good” rating in the latest inspection reports released by the Darien Health Department. An inspector also found that Whole Foods Market still had fruit flies at various places around the store — also a finding in a previous (recent) inspection at the store. How the ratings systems and scores work

Restaurants in town are rated under the Darien Health Department’s own Good/Fair/Poor ratings system. Health inspectors also use the state health code regulations to score restaurants, with a perfect score set at 100, and demerits (of 1 to 4 points each) for various code violations. The Darien system takes into account problems that are ongoing or that have been fixed, so a restaurant scoring higher than others on the state scale may actually get a lower score on the Darien scale, or vice versa.