Posted: June 23rd, 2008 - 6:47pm by Doug Powell

The Boston Globe reports that inspectors found recently that a restaurant at the home of the Inspectional Services Division at 1010 Massachusetts Ave., as well as a cafe in City Hall that has been visited by the mayor, violated some of the most serious public health codes.

Cafe 1010, located on the first floor of the Mass Ave. building, flunked inspections earlier this month and in December by failing to keep hot foods at 140 degrees or warmer and cold foods at 40 degrees or cooler. Both violations are considered critical because they could cause food poisoning. They had been corrected when inspectors followed up last week.

Boston food safety consultant Lisa Berger said,

"You would think it would be a deterrent that they're right in the middle of the city offices, but it's clearly not for some places. Everybody knows they get inspected by the health department, yet why do places get in trouble? It's amazing to me how some of them can't quite grasp the seriousness of it sometimes, even with the threat of closure."

City Council member John Tobin suggested using a grading system for restaurants.

"It's kind of like a scarlet letter. If your place is clean and up to code you have nothing to worry about. You've got people going in and eating, and people can get really sick if they're eating in a place infested with rodents or people aren't washing their hands or going by basic procedures to keep food fresh and the condition sanitary."