Forty-one Burnaby restaurants were shut down by Fraser Health last year for reasons ranging from poor hygiene to unsafe preparation of food to ongoing issues with pests, making Burnaby the biggest offender in the health authority’s report.
In 2014, Fraser Health reviewed the conditions of restaurants throughout 12 Lower Mainland municipalities, including Abbotsford, Coquitlam, Delta, Langley (city and township), Maple Ridge, New Westminster, Pitt Meadows, Port Coquitlam, Port Moody and Surrey. Burnaby garnered the most shutdowns of all the cities, edging out Surrey by five establishments.
The city’s worst offender was Mrs. Vanelli’s in Metrotown, racking up a dozen violations, including failure to protect food from contamination, a lack of a written sanitation procedure and improper storage or labelling of chemicals, cleansers or similar agents. Under the direction of Fraser Health, they were permanently closed on Jan. 10, 2014.
“We spend our inspections doing education with the operators, and when everything else fails, we close facilities down,” said Gordon Stewart, Fraser Health’s manager of health protection in Burnaby, adding that numerous violations are a sign of problem restaurants.
Not far behind in infractions, the New Starlet Seafood Restaurant on Kingsway was written up for 11 violations, including unsanitary food contact surfaces, inadequate hand washing stations and storage of potentially hazardous hot and cold foods at inappropriate temperatures. New Starlet was closed for 11 days, from Oct. 27 to Nov. 7.
Given the similarities between certain violations, Stewart explained that different codes may refer to more severe conditions, or may indicate that previous violations have not been addressed. For example, “premise is not free of pests” may be used as an initial violation, and “failure to ensure premise is free of pests” may be used as a follow-up violation if measures aren’t taken to rid a restaurant of pests.
“It’s at the discretion of the inspector,” said Stewart. “If they’ve coded it one way and need to code it a different way to get a different correction done… there may be specifics around the violation code they use.”
The longest closure for health violations lasted 24 days at the Rabbit Canteen, which had nine infractions, the most notable being failure to obtain approval to operate a food premises. Other lengthy shutdowns included Himalayan Peak Indian Cuisine (10 days), Lee Garden Seafood Restaurant (10 days), El Comal Mexican Food (nine days) and Alvin Garden (eight days).
Technically, the longest overall closure occurred at the Tim Horton’s at 4191 Lougheed Hwy., but its six-week shutdown was due to a kitchen fire in September, not health code violations.
About half of the restaurants were closed no more than a day, with several closing and reopening the same day. Additionally, not all restaurants listed were closed for health violations; PHO 101 Vietnamese Cuisine was temporary closed due to an extended power failure.
Rod’s Kitchen and Grill appeared on the list twice, closing for a day in January and another day in June over such concerns as unsanitary conditions and inadequate food storage temperatures.
22's Grill: 4990 Canada Way (closed April 7 to 8)
• Equipment/utensils/food contact surfaces are not maintained in sanitary condition
• Premises is not free of pests
• Food premises is not maintained in sanitary condition
• Equipment, utensils, food contact surfaces are not maintained in good working order
Alvin Garden: 4850 Imperial St. (closed July 10 to 18)
• Cold potentially hazardous food is not stored/ displayed at 4 degrees C or below
• Food is not protected from contamination
• Equipment/utensils/food contact surfaces are not maintained in sanitary condition
• Equipment/utensils/food contact surfaces are not properly washed and sanitized
• Premises is not free of pests
• Food premises is not maintained in sanitary condition
• Equipment, utensils, food contact surfaces are not maintained in good working order
Antojitos Mexicanos Mayeli: 4280 Hastings St. (closed Feb. 4 to 7)
• Failure to ensure low temperature dishwasher is meeting the washing and sanitizing requirements
Baba Sweets & Restaurant: 7561 6th St. (closed April 30 to May 1)
• Cold potentially hazardous food is not stored/ displayed at 4 degrees C or below
• Equipment, utensils, food contact surfaces are not maintained in good working order
Bubble World: 4300 Kingsway (closed Nov. 13 to 19)
• Premises is not free of pests
• Food premises is not maintained in sanitary condition
Burgers Etc.: 4091 Hastings St. (closed Aug. 28 to Aug. 29)
• Cold potentially hazardous food is not stored/ displayed at 4 degrees C or below
• Equipment, utensils, food contact surfaces are not maintained in good working order
Cafe Bonjour: 9530 Erickson Dr. (closed Jan. 20 to 21)
• Failure to ensure equipment/facilities hot and/or cold water for sanitary maintenance are adequate
• Failure to ensure high temperature dishwasher is washing and/or sanitizing at appropriate temperatures
Dairy Queen/Orange Julius: 4700 Kingsway (closed Feb. 26 to 28)
• Failure to ensure premises is free of pests
El Comal Mexican Food: 7650 Winston St. (closed June 25 to July 4)
• Equipment/utensils/food contact surfaces are not properly washed and sanitized
FX-Foods: 8075 Enterprise St. (closed June 27 to July 2)
• Food is not protected from contamination
• Premises is not free of pests
Grand Food Mart: 7351 Edmonds St. (closed May 9 to 12)
• Food is not protected from contamination
Guilin Rice Noodles: 4500 Kingsway (closed Oct. 28 to Nov. 4)
• Equipment/utensils/food contact surfaces are not maintained in sanitary condition
• Equipment/utensils/food contact surfaces are not properly washed and sanitized
• Food premises is not maintained in sanitary condition
Himalayan Peak Indian Cuisine: 8901 Cornerstone Mews (closed Sept. 30 to Oct. 10)
• Food is not processed in a manner that makes it safe to eat
• Equipment/utensils/food contact surfaces are not maintained in sanitary condition
• Premises is not free of pests
• Food premises is not maintained in sanitary condition
Hop & Vine Neighbourhood Pub: 9 - 1601 Burnwood Dr. (closed Nov. 24 to 26)
• Cold potentially hazardous food is not stored/ displayed at 4 degrees C or below
• Equipment/utensils/food contact surfaces are not properly washed and sanitized
• Food premises is not maintained in sanitary condition
• Adequate hand washing stations are not available for employees
Kasuga Sushi & Grill: 4500 Kingsway (closed Oct. 23 to 28)
• Equipment/utensils/food contact surfaces are not maintained in sanitary condition
• Equipment/utensils/food contact surfaces are not properly washed and sanitized
Kiku Sushi Japanese Restaurant: 4986 Kingsway (closed July 3 to 8)
• Food premises closed as a result of flooding
Kim Anh Vietnamese Cuisine: 7405 Edmonds St. (closed April 9 to 10)
• Equipment/facilities/hot and cold water for sanitary maintenance are not adequate
La Fontana Caffe: 101 - 3701 Hastings St. (closed Sept. 16 to 17)
• Equipment/utensils/food contact surfaces are not maintained in sanitary condition
• Equipment/utensils/food contact surfaces are not properly washed and sanitized
• Food premises is not maintained in sanitary condition
Lee Garden Seafood Restaurant: 110 - 6401 Kingsway (closed July 11 to 21)
• Food is not processed in a manner that makes it safe to eat
• Cold potentially hazardous food is not stored/ displayed at 4 degrees C or below
• Equipment/utensils/food contact surfaces are not properly washed and sanitized
• Food premises is not maintained in sanitary condition
Little Tea House (Metropolis): 1120B - 4700 Kingsway (closed Feb. 28 to March 3)
• Failure to ensure equipment/utensils/food contact surfaces are maintained in sanitary condition
• Failure to ensure equipment/facilities hot and/or cold water for sanitary maintenance are adequate
Ming Kee Kitchen: 5095 Canada Way (closed Oct. 10 to 14)
• Cold potentially hazardous food is not stored/ displayed at 4 degrees C or below
• Equipment, utensils, food contact surfaces are not maintained in good working order
Mr. Zhang's Karaoke and Restaurant: 1605 - 4500 Kingsway (closed June 5 to 6)
• Food is not processed in a manner that makes it safe to eat
• Equipment/utensils/food contact surfaces are not maintained in sanitary condition
Mrs Vanelli's Restaurant: 314 - 4820 Kingsway (closed Jan. 10 to present)
• Failure to cook or reheat food in a manner that makes it safe to eat
• Failure to ensure cold potentially hazardous food stored/displayed at 4 degrees C or below
• Failure to ensure hot potentially hazardous food stored/displayed at 60 degrees C or above
• Failure to protect food from contamination
• Failure to have written food handling procedures (i.e. "food safety plan")
• Failure to maintain written logs of temperatures
• Failure to ensure equipment/utensils/food contact surfaces are maintained in sanitary condition
• Failure to ensure premises is free of pests
• Failure to ensure food premises is maintained in sanitary condition
• Failure to ensure food premises equipment is maintained in good working order
• Failure to ensure chemicals, cleansers, and similar agents are stored or labeled properly
• Failure to have written sanitation procedures
New Lakeview Seafood & Wun-Tun Restaurant: 7763 6th St. (closed Oct. 16 to 17)
• Cold potentially hazardous food is not stored/ displayed at 4 degrees C or below
• Equipment, utensils, food contact surfaces are not maintained in good working order
New Starlet Seafood Restaurant: 150 - 5665 Kingsway (closed Oct. 27 to Nov. 7)
• Cold potentially hazardous food is not stored/ displayed at 4 degrees C or below
• Hot potentially hazardous food is not stored/ displayed at 60 degrees C or above
• Food is not protected from contamination
• Failure to have and/or follow written food handling procedures
• Equipment/utensils/food contact surfaces are not maintained in sanitary condition
• Equipment/utensils/food contact surfaces are not properly washed and sanitized
• Premises is not free of pests
• Food premises is not maintained in sanitary condition
• Failure to have and/or follow written sanitation procedures
• Adequate hand washing stations are not available for employees
• Food handlers are not washing hands properly and/or when needed
Parkcrest Diner: 15-16 - 5901 Broadway (closed Oct. 21 to 22)
• Equipment/utensils/food contact surfaces are not properly washed and sanitized
• Equipment, utensils, food contact surfaces are not maintained in good working order
PHO 101 Vietnamese Cuisine: 5937 Hastings St. (closed and reopened Aug. 7)
• Food premises closed due to extended power failure
Posh Charcoal Collaboration Dining: 105 - 6462 Kingsway (closed May 12 to 13)
• Equipment/utensils/food contact surfaces are not maintained in sanitary condition
• Equipment/utensils/food contact surfaces are not properly washed and sanitized
Quizno's Classic Subs: 333 - 4820 Kingsway (closed April 24 to 25)
• Cold potentially hazardous food is not stored/ displayed at 4 degrees C or below
• Equipment, utensils, food contact surfaces are not maintained in good working order
Rabbit Canteen: 4854 Imperial St. (closed Sept. 2 to 26)
• Failure to obtain approval to operate a food premises
• Food is not processed in a manner that makes it safe to eat
• Cold potentially hazardous food is not stored/ displayed at 4 degrees C or below
• Hot potentially hazardous food is not stored/ displayed at 60 degrees C or above
• Food is not protected from contamination
• Failure to have and/or follow written food handling procedures
• Equipment/utensils/food contact surfaces are not maintained in sanitary condition
• Equipment/utensils/food contact surfaces are not properly washed and sanitized
• Failure to have and/or follow written sanitation procedures
Rod's Kitchen and Grill: 3290 Production Way (closed Jan. 30 to 31)
• Failure to ensure cold potentially hazardous food stored/displayed at 4 degrees C or below
• Failure to ensure hot potentially hazardous food stored/displayed at 60 degrees C or above
• Failure to protect food from contamination
• Failure to ensure food premises is maintained in sanitary condition
Rod's Kitchen and Grill: 3290 Production Way (closed June 2 to 3)
• Cold potentially hazardous food is not stored/ displayed at 4 degrees C or below
• Equipment/utensils/food contact surfaces are not properly washed and sanitized
• Equipment, utensils, food contact surfaces are not maintained in good working order
Sasaya Korean Tofu Hot Pot & Bubble Tea Special Stop Restaurant: 7538 Royal Oak Ave. (closed Oct. 16 to 17)
• Equipment/facilities/hot and cold water for sanitary maintenance are not adequate
Sashimi Sushi (Lougheed Town Centre): 116 - 9855 Austin Rd. (closed July 24 to 25)
• Cold potentially hazardous food is not stored/ displayed at 4 degrees C or below
• Equipment, utensils, food contact surfaces are not maintained in good working order
Shanghai Elan Restaurant: 1687 - 4500 Kingsway (closed Aug. 15 to 18)
• Cold potentially hazardous food is not stored/ displayed at 4 degrees C or below
• Equipment/utensils/food contact surfaces are not maintained in sanitary condition
• Equipment/utensils/food contact surfaces are not properly washed and sanitized
Spicy Stone: 8915 Cornerstone Mews (closed Jan. 27 to 28)
• Failure to ensure equipment/facilities hot and/or cold water for sanitary maintenance are adequate
Subway: 101 - 3790 Canada Way (closed and reopened Nov. 7)
• Equipment/facilities/hot and cold water for sanitary maintenance are not adequate
Sushi UO Japanese Restaurant: 4280 Hastings St. (closed Nov. 6 to 7)
• Cold potentially hazardous food is not stored/ displayed at 4 degrees C or below
• Food premises is not maintained in sanitary condition
• Adequate hand washing stations are not available for employees
Tim Hortons: 4191 Lougheed Hwy (closed Sept. 5 to Oct. 14)
• Food premises closed as a result of fire damage
T&T (Metrotown) Dim Sum: 147 - 4800 Kingsway (closed March 11 to 12)
• Failure to ensure premises is free of pests
• Failure to ensure food premises is maintained in sanitary condition
Umi Sushi Express (Metropolis): 1156 - 4700 Kingsway (closed and reopened April 14)
• Food is not protected from contamination
• Equipment/utensils/food contact surfaces are not maintained in sanitary condition
• Food premises is not maintained in sanitary condition
Wah Lun Chinese Restaurant: 4524 Hastings St. (closed Aug. 21 to Sept. 2)
• Cold potentially hazardous food is not stored/ displayed at 4 degrees C or below
• Equipment, utensils, food contact surfaces are not maintained in good working order
For a full list of closures, click here.
