Restaurant inspection "hot spots"
There's a reason why "pink slime in the ice machine" rears its ugly head so often on Memphis-Shelby County restaurant inspection reports.
The ice machine is one of the "hot spots" on a health department environmentalist's checklist, according to Tom Powell, a former Mid-South restaurateur.
"The mold on the door, no one likes to clean it, or many are unsure how to adequately clean it without chemically contaminating the ice,” Powell said.
That's not the first area that should be inspected, though, he said.
According to Powell, right after the front door, a health inspector should walk in the walk-in cooler.
“Boxes of fruit or produce that are left in the walk-in cooler are often forgotten if the stock is not rotated,” he said. “Then you have rotting produce in the cooler.”
Food temperatures are a "hot spot," too, for obvious reasons.
