Onondaga County report flags two food businesses for failed inspections

Inspectors found 210 pounds of cooked breaded chicken, 20 dozen raw eggs and other perishables sitting in a walk-in cooler that had climbed to 57 degrees at China Kin of Bridgeport, one of two Onondaga County food businesses that failed inspections in the June 7 to June 13 round. The other failure was Yang Di Chun, 2042 Erie Boulevard East in Syracuse.

At China Kin, the county report lists eight violations, including two critical ones. The operator threw out potentially hazardous food that had been stored overnight in the warm cooler: cooked breaded chicken, raw eggs in the shell, cooked egg rolls, raw chicken, cooked lo mein noodles, raw beef, cooked pork and cream cheese. The discarded food totaled hundreds of pounds, a sign of how quickly a refrigeration problem can turn a kitchen into a risk for diners.

The report says the operator told inspectors the cooler had started drifting out of temperature about two days earlier. That is the danger in plain terms: food that should stay cold enough to slow bacterial growth was left warm enough to spoil faster and become unsafe to serve. Inspectors also found food containers on the floor, items covered with grocery bags, rice cooker equipment stored in a mop sink and temporary work surfaces lined with plastic wrap, foil and cardboard instead of cleanable materials. The inspection also noted problems with the hand sink and sanitation setup.

The county’s online restaurant-inspection page lets the public view the full dataset, and the state’s inspection map explains why the reports are useful but limited. The New York State Department of Health says the data are a snapshot in time, updated monthly, and should not be used as a restaurant-grading system. That matters for local diners weighing where to eat in Syracuse, Bridgeport and across Onondaga County, because the weekly reports show exactly which kitchens had to correct serious storage and sanitation failures before they could keep serving food.