Onondaga County food report finds one failure in weekly inspections

Unsafe thawing, a dish machine running too cool and mouse activity pushed Mr. Pho at 16 Walton Street in Syracuse into the week’s only failed food inspection, while Southside Wings at 4421 South Salina Street also drew an unsatisfactory report. The Onondaga County inspection roundup covered restaurants checked from May 3 through May 9 and was released May 21.

Mr. Pho failed with six violations, including one critical violation tied to four pork fillets at 50 degrees Fahrenheit thawing in standing water. Inspectors also found evidence of mouse activity, including droppings, a hole in the baseboard and one dead mouse in a glue trap. Other problems included utensils stored in standing water, reused packaging and cardboard egg flats, meats thawing at room temperature and a dish machine that reached only 150 degrees Fahrenheit during the rinse cycle, below the 180 degrees or higher used for high-temperature sanitizing.

Several of those issues were corrected during the inspection, which is the part of the report that matters most for diners trying to separate a fixable slip from a lasting risk. Unsafe temperatures and pest evidence are the findings that most directly raise health concerns because they can lead to contamination. Storage problems, by comparison, are less severe on their own, but they still matter when food, utensils or supplies are left where they can pick up dirt or pests.

Southside Wings received an unsatisfactory inspection with eight violations and no critical violations. The problems there centered on food and supplies stored on the floor and at the front counter, which points to poor storage and sanitation practices rather than an immediate temperature or pest hazard. That still keeps a restaurant out of good standing until the violations are corrected and inspectors can verify the fixes.

A restaurant is considered back in compliance only after the problems found during inspection are corrected and the conditions are brought back into safe range, including proper food temperatures, proper sanitizing equipment and clean, pest-free storage areas. Onondaga County Environmental Health directs residents to restaurant inspection information through its restaurant-inspections page and Health Data NY, and the New York State Department of Health says the food protection program is meant to reduce foodborne illness and investigate outbreaks. The state also says inspection reports are a snapshot in time, not a full picture of daily operations.

The week before, the county’s April 26 to May 2 roundup found four establishments that failed, showing inspectors were still finding serious problems in back-to-back reports.