3 Maricopa restaurants dinged for health-inspection violations

The Pinal County Health Department inspected 12 Maricopa eateries in January, tagging Marisco’s El Pulpo Loco, Papago Cantina and the Kentucky Fried Chicken/Long John Silvers combo store with less than perfect scores.

Health inspectors conduct random inspections aimed at ensuring that all the proper steps are being taken to maintain consumer safety, Pinal County officials said. To that end, the department can issue violations that are either critical or non-critical. Critical violations must be fixed within 10 days and affect a location’s score. Non-critical violations must be fixed within 90 days.

Grades are based on the number of violations, with an “E” for excellent, being the highest possible score an establishment can receive. Other scores are: “S” for satisfactory; “U” for unacceptable; and “N” for needs improvement. The three restaurants cited by the department all received scores of “S.”

Marisco’s was marked down for storing raw beef and shrimp above cooked shrimp, improper thawing techniques and a dirty freezer; Papago Cantina was cited for dirty knives and improper cooling techniques; and KFC was dinged for a half-eaten sandwich being left in proximity of the chicken-breading area, cleaning a shaker in a hand-washing sink, failure to date-mark food, and improper thawing techniques.

Panda Express, The Silver Spur, AFC Sushi, Tacos N’ More, Carl’s JR, Domino’s, Subway, Arby’s and Baskin Robbins all received perfect scores.

To view the entire reports, click here.

Photo by Jim Williams