Inspectors: More Super Markets Than Gross Grocers in Forest Hills

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Forest Hills' grocery stores do a better job meeting quality standards set by the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets than those in many other areas of the city, Patch has learned.

Markets are inspected once a year, on average, by the state agency, with most tallying at least a handful of "general deficiencies," areas in which the market needs to improve. Beyond that, "critical deficiencies" — classified by the state as an "immediate threat to public health and welfare" — are also counted.

In recent inspections, very few Forest Hills markets had significant numbers of critical deficiencies.

Those that did were limited largely to infractions relating to dirty deli equipment that was quickly taken out of service.

Between the major markets in the area — three Key Food locations and a Met Foods on Queens Boulevard, as well as Vitelio's Market on Yellowstone Boulevard — there were fewer than five critical deficiencies, less than many single markets in places like Bayside and Little Neck.

In a recent inspection—conducted in November—Vitelio's had two critical deficiencies, both related to dirty deli equipment.

In combination with 20 tallied general deficiencies, the market failed its first inspection under new ownership.

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Gilbert Almonte, manager of Vitelio's Market on Yellowstone Boulevard, said that during a follow-up inspection in February, both critical issues had been corrected, and the store — which is now in its ninth month of operation under current management — passed with no critical deficiencies.

Almonte said the key to passing inspections is a rigorous training program to ensure each employee knows their task.

"It's about making sure things get managed in a way where everyone knows what to do, and you hold their feet to it," Almonte said. "That's the way [issues] get resolved."

Almonte claimed the reason for the original citations was that the deli's employee in charge of quality control on equipment was on vacation at the time.

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Customers at the online review site Yelp gave Vitelio's mostly positive marks, praising their organization and their stock of harder-to-find products.

Key Food Market at 116-34 Queens Blvd. also suffered two deli-related critical deficiencies during an inspection in January.

The location — the furthest south of the chain's three Queens Boulevard outlets — was the only one with any critical deficiencies. Like Vitelio's Market, Key Food had two, both related to deli equipment that had not been properly cleaned.

Unlike Vitelio's, however, Key Food did not fail an inspection in 2012.

Pop-in shoppers worried about the neighborhood's bodegas also have little to worry about. Just one bodega in the area — Empire Deli and Grocery on Austin Street — recorded any critical deficiencies in its most recent review on Jan. 13.

Empire was cited for evidence of rodents in a food storage area. Despite the deficiencies, Empire passed all of its health inspections in 2012.

All in all, Forest Hills fares very well when compared to other parts of Queens.

In 2012, local food service businesses — including everything from bodegas to supermarkets to candy stores — suffered 14 inspection failures. That number pales in comparison to the 32 failures recorded in Bayside, Little Neck and Douglaston in the same calendar year.