Maram Shami of Alfanoose Middle Eastern Cafe, told DNAinfo unscrupulous companies are taking advantage of New York City’s point system to prey on restaurant owners by promising to teach them how to properly clean and avoid future violations.

Shami said she and her husband, co-owner Mouhamad Shami, 55, shelled out $5,000 for a special training on how to clean the restaurant before the most recent inspection, only to incur more violations than the one before.

Shami said the poor grades are likely to drive her and her husband out of business, after customers stopped coming by after their most recent grade.

That’s just one of 10 downtown dining joints that racked up numerous violations recently.

Of the 10 restaurants that have poor grades looming, Mike's Papaya at 88 Reade Street was the worst offender by far, with 106 violation points — or about a "C" grade under the city's letter grading system. The hot dog joint was cited for violations including contaminated food, cold food not properly refrigerated, evidence of mice and lack of soap in the bathroom.

Many restaurant owners either declined to comment or were not immediately available for interview.

Other owners called the health inspection process unfair, and complained the number violations levied against them is unjustified.
 

Inspections of some Colorado school cafeterias in the last two years have turned up evidence of everything from rodents to fecal matter -- issues that are considered "critical violations," according to local health departments.

Tom Butts of the Tri- County Health Department, told CBS4 school cafeterias, "in general they are some of our better operated facilities. They have lots of people watching them."

But that scrutiny doesn't guarantee cleanliness.

At Denver's South High School, a 2009 city inspection of the cafeteria revealed "evidence of rodents ... in the facility. Rodent droppings are found in the dry storage along the walls on the floor."

South High School principal Steve Wera told CBS4 the problems have been addressed, adding, "We've made the appropriate changes. We can do better, we need to do better at this so I made sure we did."

Wera said since those problems were discovered the school brought in a new lunchroom manager and made other staff changes.

Tell someone. Call someone. Kill it.

Ignore it?

Wrong.

Pennsylvania lawmakers wanted to know the answer, and are prepared to legislate one if necessary after their cafeteria was shut down due to rodent problems.

As reported by the Patriot-News,

It might have been the most relevant question at Monday's inquiry into the mouse infestation and other health problems that temporarily closed the state Capitol cafeteria:

Why didn't cafeteria employees do something?

There was no direct answer.

The closest came from Bruce Walton, vice president for operations for Aramark, Inc., which runs the cafeteria.

He said "leadership changes" have been made, and Aramark is trying to create an "environment of care" in which Capitol cafeteria employees take a proactive approach to quality matters.

Yet the answer to that question -- whatever it is -- might prove central to the decision of whether Pennsylvania gets a tougher restaurant law.

 

Cora Pizza, (the One Stop Pizza Shop), apparently a favorite of University of Toronto students, was shut down Dec. 21/09 by Toronto Public Health due to a rodent infestation and to prevent gross unsanitary conditions.

Among the findings were a bucket that was used for pizza sauce showing obvious "signs of contamination with dirt and mold” and "dead rats and rat droppings in the kitchen."

blogTO reported that previous inspections in March and June of this year found a long list of infractions, including failure to:

* ensure food is not contaminated/adulterated;

* use proper procedure(s) to ensure food safety;

* provide hand washing supplies; and,

* provide adequate pest control.

The Toronto Star reported that  this week's discovery of rodents at a Spadina Ave. pizza shop and a bakery outlet at a subway station has put the spotlight on Toronto's restaurant inspection program.

The pass-fail card system, in which a red card closes the eatery until problems are corrected, was set back by last summer's 39-day civic workers' strike and the fight against the H1N1 flu pandemic.

Inspectors have since been working hard to catch up.

Nearly every week in Toronto, an establishment is closed down temporarily for food safety infractions. There were 41 closures this year and 46 in 2008.

Those statistics indicate the city, which has some 16,000 restaurants, food stores and bakeries, is staying on top of the serious cases, said associate medical officer of health Dr. Howard Shapiro, who notes they inspect "probably a few hundred places a day."