2 restaurants temporarily closed for food safety violations

Two P.E.I. restaurants have reopened after provincial health inspectors shut them down for food safety violations.

By the River Bakery & Cafe in Hunter River was closed for three days in February, and China Garden in Charlottetown reopened March 8 after it was closed on March 5.

This makes three restaurants to be closed for safety violations this year.In January public health officials closed the Unique Wok restaurant in Charlottetown after 30 food safety violations.

According to the province's website, China Garden had 21 violations,including failure to properly cool food, failure to supply adequate handwashing facilities,failure to provide food, water and/or ice from an approved source,and failure to maintain the premises and equipment in a clean and sanitary condition.

By the River Bakery & Cafe had 12 violations, includingfailure to maintain potentially hazardous food at a temperature of 4 C or colder,failure to provide adequate handwashing facilities, andfailure to receive, store, process and/or transport food or food packaging materials under conditions that prevent contamination.

High number of violations

Ryan Neale,manager of environmental health for the province, saidthe high number of violations were a factor in issuing the closures.

"Then tied into that is the food handling practices of the staff," he said. "If food handling practices are not up to par then there is a real risk of cross contamination and the potential for food-borne illness. And then the other piece that comes into play here is compliance history."

Neale said follow-up inspections eventually led to the reopening of both restaurants.

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