Pittsburgh-Area Eatery Hit With Consumer Alert

PITTSBURGH PA — The Allegheny County Health Department has issued a consumer alert for Pasta Too on Library Road in Bethel Park for numerous health code violations.

An inspection Tuesday revealed poor employee hygiene practices. Workers were seen handling ready-to-eat food with bare hands; washing hands with gloves still on at the food preparation sink and putting on gloves without first washing their hands.

Five-gallon buckets of homemade pasta sauce made more than 24 hours before the inspection measured at an unsafe temperature in the walk-in cooler, as did about a dozen containers of pasta made earlier in the day.

All prepared foods in the walk-in cooler, including pastas, soups, meatballs and stuffed peppers, lacked discard dates. Multiple foods offered for retail sale lacked proper labeling of their contents and safe handling instructions.

The only hand washing station on the cook line was filled and blocked with at least a dozen large potatoes being washed or rinsed in it.

A restaurant with a consumer alert placard is allowed to operate for a temporary period not exceeding 10 days. Another inspection is conducted either prior to the expiration of the temporary period upon request of the eatery owner or on the tenth day.

See the entire inspection report here.