Health department threw away food, stripped permit from this Belleville restaurant
The St. Clair County Health Department has suspended a Belleville restaurant’s permit to operate because of “substantial public health hazards” uncovered during an inspection.
China Quick, a Chinese and Filipino food restaurant at 940 Carlyle Ave. in Belleville, is not allowed to store, prepare or serve food until the health department reissues a permit. Health department staff threw all of the restaurant’s food into a dumpster and poured bleach over it with law enforcement and the State’s Attorney on site during its last visit on Sept. 6, according to the restaurant’s health inspection report from that day.
The owner of China Quick could not immediately be reached for comment. Calls to the restaurant are sent to a voice mailbox that has not been set up.
The health department initially suspended China Quick’s permit on Sept. 4 after an inspector observed undercooked food, dirty utensils and dishware, cooks not wearing gloves, rodent and cockroach droppings around the baseboards and other problems during a routine inspection.
All of the kitchen’s coolers also weren’t cold enough to prevent bacteria from growing on stored food, which is considered a serious violation because it can make people sick.
The Sept. 6 inspection report states that an unnamed supervisor had agreed to throw away food from the restaurant’s coolers at the request of the health department on Sept. 5. But when health department staff returned on Sept. 6 to deliver a formal permit suspension letter, the food from a day earlier was still there, employees were cooking white rice and thawing raw fish and chicken wings, and an unnamed supervisor refused to throw food away, according to the report.
That day, health inspectors also saw cockroaches in a bin of flour and in a nonfunctioning walk-in freezer. They reported disposable items in the kitchen were contaminated with rodent feces and cockroaches. China Quick’s most recent pest control reports were from 2022, the Sept. 6 inspection report states.
Inspectors also reported finding eggs from an unapproved source in the kitchen.
In the past three years, only one other restaurant had its permit suspended by the St. Clair County Health Department, according to a Belleville News-Democrat review of inspection reports. In that case, the suspension was over wastewater backing up from a grease trap, and the restaurant reopened within a matter of days after a plumber made repairs.
For China Quick to get its permit reissued, the health department says it has to do the following:
- Deep clean
- Establish integrated pest management
- Eliminate pest entry points
- Repair physical facilities
- Repair or replace coolers
- Correct the violations from the previous inspection
This story was originally published October 21, 2024 at 6:00 AM.
