Coming or Going at Miami Airport? Rodents, Filth, Unsafe Food at This Food Stop
Miami International Airport traveler food options, usually limited by time, money and location, were further limited Tuesday after a state inspector saw rodent dung, roaches and garbage food at a restaurant.
The Villa Pizza across from Gate D-44, one of three at MIA, got a visit from a Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation inspector after the agency received an Aug. 6 customer complaint. On Tuesday, when the inspector found the complaint’s “allegation confirmed” according to online records, Villa Pizza was shut down until passing re-inspection Wednesday morning.
Online records don’t state what violation or violations sparked the complaint, but here’s some of the six high priority violations and 22 total violations the inspector found.
There was an “accumulation of black/green mold-like substance in the interior of the ice machine/bin.”
The inspector spotted “one rodent dropping by the flour container; three rodent droppings on a shelf over the three-compartment sink; and one by the front counter, behind a reach-in cooler.”
Two roach corpses remained in the lobby. Three roaches ran on the floor and under the front counter pizza display.
Four flies were counted, three of them by the ice machine.
The “soda nozzles located in the lobby were soiled.”
“Food-contact surfaces were soiled with food debris, mold-like substance or slime.” Which ones? “Soda nozzles located in the lobby were soiled” as was the wood service area at the front counter holding pizzas.
Another food contact surface considered not cleaned and sanitized was a chicken wing cart described as “heavy soiled.”
“Ceiling vents were soiled throughout the establishment.”
“The floor was soiled under the oven, and other kitchen equipment.”
The prep cooler cutting board “has cut marks and is no longer cleanable.”
The “establishment is using wood (other than a hard, close-grained wood) as a food-contact surface.”
Food that’s been in the prep cooler for more than five hours should be cooled to 41 degrees or below. Instead, mixed tomatoes, shredded mozzarella, mixed vegetables, diced pineapple, diced olives and diced pepperoni measured from 51 degrees to 59 degrees. With those bacteria building temperatures, the inspector hit them with Stop Sale Orders, sending them to the garbage.
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