Dirty Dining hits Chesapeake

CHESAPEAKE, VA (WAVY) - The Health Department in Chesapeake inspects 700 eateries. The one with the most critical violations is Bella Pizza and Pasta on Western Branch Boulevard with eight  critical violations and 11 non-critical violations.

WAVY.com went to Bella Pizza and Pasta to find out why it has so many violations.

Manager Ray Azz-Edin, who was also cooking, said, "I was not here during the inspection in March. When I'm not here it goes right back up to nine. The last three inspections had six critical violations in July 2010, nine criticals in October 2010, and eight criticals in March."

Azz-Edin says he has fired two cooks, and admits when the Environmental Health Specialist inspected March 18 the required certified food manager was not working, which was the first of eight critical violations.

The other critical violations include: drink containers in the food preparation area and  workers failing to wash hands.

There has been improvement in that area, with reminder signs everywhere.

"I am making sure it is done properly every day," Azz-Edin said.

When asked about the critical violation of "box of green peppers (mold)" Azz-Edin said, "I am sorry, sir, the green peppers weren't that bad."

That is not what the inspector thought, and the peppers were thrown away.

More critical violations included chemical sanitizer missing from wiping cloth buckets. Azz-Edin now uses better chemicals.

The inspection found prepared foods like lasagna were not properly dated, but that too has changed.

The final critical was kitchen equipment, like the meat slicer being soiled and dirty.

The meat slicer was covered because it wasn't being used, but when we took off the cover there was a plate with two chicken bones on it.

Azz-Edin said, "I don't know why they are here. That is why the chef has to be kicked out."

When told about the chicken bones on the meat slicer Chesapeake's Environmental Health Supervisor Cynthia Jackson responded, "No, it's not ok...that is disturbing, and you asked the questions and he said he didn't know."

WAVY.com showed Jackson video of a fork in the sub sandwich wrapper box. The mops resting on the ground when they need to be hanging to air-dry. The kitchen floor dirty in spots.

"Those are all cleaning issues," said Jackson.

In a freezer, there were uncovered meats above and uncovered sausage below.

Azz-Edin realizes that poses the potential problem of cross contamination.

There was also a problem with the Chesapeake Health Department. The inspection took place on March 18,  with a follow-up by April 6.

It's July, and the Chesapeake Health Department still hasn't followed up.

Dr. Nancy Welch who heads the Chesapeake Health Department said, "Actually, this is one that fell through the cracks, so I'm glad you brought it to our attention because it didn't even show up on our computer system."

Welch does not know how the computer alert system failed.

"To be honest with you, this fell through the cracks and it's the one that has the most criticals which makes it even worse," said Welch.

As we spoke with Dr. Welch she had an inspector out at Bella Pizza and Pasta doing a follow-up inspection.

"I will be the first to say we appreciate grateful people like you and the patrons who are our eyes and ears," said Dr. Welch.

During the inspection there was one critical violation, and three non-critical violations.

All the violations were corrected during the inspection.