Nine food safety alerts posted in Champaign Co. this week
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (WCIA) — Nine locations in Champaign County received less than satisfactory food inspections in the last seven days — including one area school.
An inspector found three risk factor/ intervention violations and one repeat risk factor/ intervention violation at Sooie Bros BBQ Joint on Feb. 27.
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The restaurant, located at 103 W. Kirby Ave. in Champaign, was given a red placard and was told to close by the health department 'due to the lack of essential refrigeration.' The inspector said the walk-in cooler was 'not operating/in-use.'
Since the inspection, Sooie's ownership said they will be suing the Champaign County Public Health District and Director Sarah Michaels over claims of harassment. You can read more details about the suit here.
For the second inspection in a row, the inspector noted that items were removed from the freezer and not relabeled with a pull date. During the Feb. 27 inspection, the pulled pork was stored inside the steam table and the rack of ribs were stored inside the two-door cooler.
Other issues the inspector found a lack of hot water at the hand-washing sink upstairs and the dish machine not operating as a chemical dish machine (too hot for chlorine sanitizer).
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On Feb. 27, Big JJ Fish & Chicken, located at 1114 N. Market Street in Champaign, received a yellow food safety alert.
During the inspection, a health inspector found three risk factor/intervention violations and one repeat risk factor/intervention violation.
For the third time in a row, the restaurant had an issue with keeping their food at the correct temperature. Raw chicken held in the second lowest shelf of the reach in cooler was 45.3°F, while raw chicken held in the bottom shelf of the cooler was 48.9°F. The inspector's report said the bins the chicken was held in could have blocked cold air from flowing to the bottom of the unit. The chicken that was above 41°F was thrown out and the cooler was condemned.
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Other issues that the inspector noted included the thermometer in the reach-in cooler giving inaccurate readings, the mop sink was soiled with build-up, and cooked and cooled Italian beef was at 125.6°F in the hot holding unit.
A follow-up inspection will be done in 5-7 businesses days to ensure the violation was corrected.
Captain D's Seafood, located at 1409 N. Prospect Ave. in Champaign, received a yellow food safety alert on Feb. 27.
According to the health department's report, the health inspector found four risk factor/intervention violations and one repeat risk factor/intervention violation.
For the third time in a row, the restaurant had issues with keeping certain foods at the regulated temperature. Four pans of hush puppy batter, chicken batter and sour cream were found at temperatures above 41°F.
Other issues the inspector noted included the person in charge cleaned water from the cooler, did not wash his hands, carried a clean kitchen towel to the ware washing area, and put it on the cleaned and sanitized pans. They also noted that the facility is not currently using the dish machine because it's not working correctly, and a 'Condemned for Use' sticker is posted on the dish machine.
A follow-up inspection will be done in 5-7 businesses days to ensure the violations were corrected.
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Kung Fu BBQ, located at 510 E. John Street in Champaign, received a yellow food safety alert on Feb. 27. During the inspection, the health department found five risk factor/intervention violations and one repeat risk factor/intervention violation.
For the third time in a row, the inspector found food surfaces and utensils with dried food debris from the previous days. There was a knife on the knife rack with dried meat, and two knives on top of the oven with dried food. There was also a vegetable scraper with 'dried, sticky, and stringy food residue.' There was also dried meat on the slicer and on the pork grinding machine, both which had been 'partly cleaned' the day before.
Other issues the inspector noted included quarts with raw chicken stored above potatoes in the kitchen, pork belly sitting at 109°F and 98°F (which had not been properly reheated), a disinfectant chemical spray bottle was stored directly next to small cups of soy sauce, and a can of 'Raid' insecticide and a container of 'Rotella' motor oil stored in an unused reach-in freezer.
On Thursday March 6, the health department reinspected the restaurant. They found that the issues had been corrected, so the yellow placard was removed and replaced with a green placard.
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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School, located at 1108 W. Fairview Ave. in Urbana received a yellow food safety alert on Feb. 28. During the inspection, the health department found five risk factor/intervention violations and two repeat risk factor/intervention violations.
For the third time in a row, the inspector noted issues with employees completing an activity, and then not washing their hands afterwards. For example, an employee cleaned the splashes on the sides of the hand-washing sink, then touched a sensor on the paper towel dispenser and then put on gloves for food prep. The inspector also saw the same employee pick up a loaf of bread and a bag of vegetables from the floor, but the loaf of bread on a clean food prep table and then touch clean butter papers without changing their gloves or washing their hands.
And for the second time in a row, there was not a certified food protection manager (CFPM) in the facility at the beginning of the inspection. Now, the school must show proof of enrollment in the CFPM course for two employees, or proof of CFPM coverage in the kitchen by March 14.
Other issues the inspector noted included sanitizer inside the sanitizer cloth bucket (which was being used to wipe contaminated food contact surfaces) did not show any color change on the test strip, and a container of hummus and opened bag of shredded lettuce were found without opening dates inside the two-door cooler located in front of the dry storage room.
The inspector also noted that the green placard from the last inspection was not present at the place it was posted, and that the person in charge could not find it anywhere in the facility.
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A follow-up inspection will be done in 5-7 businesses days to ensure the violations were corrected.
After two poor inspections since November of 2024, the Savory Hot Pot House has 'corrected all of the violations cited during the last routine inspection and the last follow-up inspection,' according to the health department. But, a yellow food safety alert was still posted at the business.
In November, the restaurant, located at 505 S. Neil Street in Champaign, received a yellow food safety notice. The inspector found 10 risk factor/intervention violations and five repeat risk factor/intervention violations. Some of the issues found included a gnat found dead on top of meatballs inside a cooler, raw pork stored over ready-to-eat veggies, and the dish machine that was in use during the inspection did not have chlorine attached.
At a follow up inspection in December, the food service was closed, and the health permit was suspended. Several issues were not corrected from the previous inspection, and some health code violations the inspector found included: Korean Melons inside the walk-in cooler were moldy, raw food stored above ready-to-eat food, and the dish machine was still being used without sanitizer.
On March 5 however, the health inspector found that the facility corrected all of its previous violations. Its health permit was reinstated, and a yellow placard was posted. A follow-up inspection will be completed within 10-business days to make sure the food safety plan is being followed.
On March 5, Illini Tower, located at 409 E. Chalmers Street in Champaign, received a yellow food safety alert.
According to the inspector report, there were three risk factor/intervention violations and one repeat risk factor/intervention violation.
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For the third inspection in a row, the health department found that certain foods were held above the correct temperature. Overnight oats, whipped butter and strawberry cream cheese packs, whipped cream and pizza sauce were all over 41°F.
Other issues the inspector noted included the facility using the make-table cooler to cool their pizza sauce after it was prepared, which was not approved, and the scoop in the oatmeal bin and the flour bin was stored with the handle touching the food inside of the bins.
A follow-up inspection will be done in 5-7 businesses days to ensure the violations were corrected.
Los Zarapes, located at 804 Eastwood Drive in Mahomet, received a yellow safety alert on March 5.
The inspector found seven risk factor/intervention violations and two repeat risk factor/intervention violations according to the health department's report.
For the third inspection in a row, the restaurant has struggled to keep some of their food items cold enough. In this instance, a three-gallon container of cooked beef from the previous day was at 46°F.
Other issues the health inspector noted included the person in charge was not a certified food protection manager, boxes and bags of food were stored on the floor in the alcohol storage room and containers of spices were stored open in the same room, not covered or protected.
A follow-up inspection will be done in 5-7 businesses days to ensure the violations were corrected.
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On March 5, Golden Harbor, located at 505 S. Neil Street in Champaign, received a follow up inspection.
On Jan. 31, the restaurant received a violation correction form, because the restaurant had failed to provide two consecutive pest control reports without cockroach activity. Golden Harbor was required to continue pest control and provide two consecutive reports by Feb. 14. They later requested an extension, which moved the due date back to March 3.
Two reports, dated Feb. 17 and Feb. 24, were returned, but on Feb. 24 the technician noted 'there were a lot of dead ones around the restaurant from previous treatment.'
Because Golden Harbor has not returned two consecutive reports without cockroach activity, a yellow placard has been posted. And, if they fail to return a pest control report without activity by March 19, Golden Harbor may be closed until the report is turned in.
To see other restaurant inspections in Champaign County, click here.
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Helen Stephens smiles for the cameraman after setting a world record in the 100 meter finals at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. (Getty Images) (Bettmann via Getty Images) 'The nude parade' The desire to define who counts as a woman for the purpose of sports dates back to Hitler's Olympics. On the night of Aug. 4, 1936, 18-year-old Helen Stephens of Fulton, Missouri, went to bed the newly crowned fastest woman in the world. The next morning, Stephens awoke to an international firestorm. A Polish newspaper correspondent could not accept that Stephens had defeated famed Polish sprinter Stella Walsh to win Olympic gold in the 100-meter dash. He published a story discrediting Stephens' world record performance by alleging that the tall, muscular American with an unusually deep voice was really a man masquerading as a woman. 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Advertisement In early 1936, American Olympic Committee chairman Avery Brundage wrote to IOC colleagues expressing concern about 'various female (?) athletes in several sports' who seemed to possess 'apparent characteristics of the opposite sex.' 'Perhaps some action has already been taken on this subject,' Brundage added. 'If not, it might be well to insist on a medical examination before participation in the Olympic Games.' The first known gender verification rule in women's sports took effect less than a week after Stephens' gold medal win in Berlin. Track and field's international governing body implemented a policy requiring female athletes to submit to physical examination should any protest be filed regarding their sex. When the Olympics first became a stage for Cold War tensions in the 1950s, familiar concerns about female athletes deemed too man-like suddenly were seen through a geopolitical lens. Rumors flew that the brawniest female athletes from the Soviet Union and other Eastern-bloc nations were taking performance-enhancing drugs or were actually men in disguise. Advertisement Soviet track and field stars Irina and Tamara Press, sisters who combined to claim five Olympic gold medals and set 26 world records, aroused the most suspicion. Western media outlets derisively labeled Irina and Tamara 'the Press brothers.' In 1964, a New York Times reporter wrote that Tamara 'was big enough to play tackle for the Chicago Bears' and that 'they could probably use her, too.' In 1966, international track and field officials responded by enforcing a mandatory sex testing policy often referred to by athletes as 'the nude parade.' Every female participant at that year's Commonwealth Games had to undress on-site before the meet and display themselves to doctors for visual inspection. Irina and Tamara Press hung up their track spikes and retired. Other athletes gritted their teeth and endured the humiliation. In an interview with NPR's 'Tested' podcast last year, Canadian discus thrower Carol Martin described being taken into a large room underneath the stands and having 'to pull my pants down in front of this woman so she could see I had a vagina.' 'I remember thinking, 'What the [expletive] is this?'' Martin told the podcast. 'And I was a nice person. I never said that at the time, but I remember thinking, 'Whoa, this seems a little invasive. This seems a little inappropriate. I mean, can't you see I'm a girl?'' Advertisement Nude parades, unsurprisingly, proved deeply unpopular. Athletes successfully campaigned to abolish the practice after only two years. Algeria's Imane Khelif, right, defeated Italy's Angela Carini in their women's 66 kg preliminary boxing match at the 2024 Summer Olympics. Carini abandoned the fight after just 46 seconds. (AP Photo/John Locher, File) (ASSOCIATED PRESS) 'There's definitely not an easy solution' Modern methods of sex testing may only require a swab to the cheek or a few drops of blood, but critics contend they're still traumatic. Athletes rights advocate and Humans of Sport founder Payoshni Mitra has worked on behalf of numerous high-profile athletes revealed to have unusually high testosterone levels. Some battled through severe depression, Mitra said. One family even lost their daughter to suicide. About a decade and a half ago, Caster Semenya became the unwilling face of a complex, emotionally charged debate over what to do with athletes who don't fit neatly in the 'male' or 'female' category. The muscular South African middle-distance star blew away the women's 800 meters field at the 2009 World Championships, but she couldn't outrun the whispers and innuendo that followed. Advertisement 'For me she is not a woman,' said one beaten fellow finalist, Italy's Elisa Cusma Piccione. Another overmatched rival, Russia's Mariya Savinova, sneered, 'Just look at her.' At the request of track and field's governing body, Semenya submitted to a gender verification test and found out along with the rest of the world that she was different. While Semenya was born with a vagina and assigned female at birth, her test results showed XY chromosomes, no uterus and unusually high testosterone levels. Stunned and devastated, Semenya weighed her options. Either she had to quit track at age 18 on the heels of winning World Championship gold or consent to hormone treatment to lower her testosterone to a predetermined level. Advertisement The hormones felt like 'poison,' Semenya wrote in her 2023 memoir 'The Race To Be Myself,' but she fought through panic attacks, night sweats and nausea to keep flourishing. Second place finishes at the 2011 World Championships and the 2012 Olympics were later upgraded to gold medals when Savinova was found guilty of doping. Semenya also led a podium sweep by DSD runners at the 2016 Olympics after the Court of Arbitration for Sport temporarily forced World Athletics to suspend its testosterone regulations. On the eve of the 2016 Olympic final in the women's 800, Yahoo Sports asked American 800-meter runner Ajee' Wilson how she felt about Semenya. Should Semenya be free to compete without being forced to take testosterone suppressants? Or should her basic rights be infringed on to avoid unfairly disadvantaging the other female competitors? 'There's definitely not an easy solution,' Wilson conceded. 'There's a saying that says you shouldn't really come hard at a problem unless you have a solution. I don't have one at this point, so I have to go with the flow of things.' While World Athletics now administers gender tests to all female athletes, from 1999 to 2024, track and field's governing body tested only targets of suspicion. Human Rights Watch condemned that approach in 2020, pointing out that the athletes being ensnared by sex testing were 'overwhelmingly women of color from the Global South.' Advertisement Among those is Annet Negesa, a promising Ugandan middle-distance runner targeted under sex testing regulations and found to have unusually high testosterone levels. Negesa agreed to undergo what she was told was minor surgery in late 2012 in hopes of altering her body and saving her career. When she awoke in a hospital bed, she told Human Rights Watch in 2020 that she had scars on her belly and discharge papers mentioning an orchiectomy — a procedure to remove testicles. The recovery from the surgery was long and painful. Never again did Negesa regain her previous fitness levels. Her manager dropped her and her university yanked away her scholarship. Today Negesa lives in Germany, where she was granted asylum in 1999. The athlete ambassador to Humans of Sport shares her story as often as possible in hopes that it can help others. She has been following Imane Khelif's story from afar. 'I am extremely disappointed to see how another athlete from a different sport is being made to face such a public trial,' Negesa said this week in a statement to Yahoo Sports. 'It is devastating for the athlete. Federations must act responsibly. They have played with our lives for too long.' Both IOC president Thomas Bach (R) and IOC spokesman Mark Adams defended the IOC's decision to allow Imane Khelif to participate in the Paris Olympics, calling tests that showed Khelif has a male karyotype not legitimate. (Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images) (FABRICE COFFRINI via Getty Images) IOC has egg on its face Thirty-six hours after World Boxing ruled that Khelif would need to pass a gender verification test to be eligible to fight against women again, the document at the heart of this entire saga may have surfaced. Advertisement American sportswriter Alan Abrahamson, formerly of the Los Angeles Times, published to his website what appears to be a leaked image of Khelif's sex-test results from the 2023 IBA world championships in New Delhi. The chromosome analysis says that Khelif has a 'male karyotype' (an individual's complete set of chromosomes). IBA officials had previously alleged without offering proof that Khelif was XY. It's unclear how Abrahamson attained the apparent leaked document or whether it is legitimate. Neither Khelif nor anyone with the Algerian Boxing Federation have publicly addressed the report or World Boxing's mandatory sex testing policy. The test results carry the letterhead of Dr. Lal Path Labs in New Delhi, accredited by the American College of Pathologists and certified by the Swiss-based International Organisation for Standardisation. That appears to fly in the face of claims made last August by IOC spokesman Mark Adams, who during a news conference at the Paris Olympics took the stance that any test administered by the IBA was essentially fruit from a poison tree. Advertisement 'The tests themselves, the process of the tests, the ad hoc nature of the tests, are not legitimate,' Adams said. Also left with egg on his face is IOC president Thomas Bach, who several times insinuated that the Khelif test results were part of a Russian disinformation campaign. The IBA is run by Umar Kremlev, a Russian businessman with close ties to the Kremlin. "This was part of the many, many fake news campaigns we had to face from Russia before Paris and after Paris," Bach told Reuters last March. If the leaked test results put pressure on IOC officials to explain why they believe they're illegitimate, they also increase the burden on Khelif to make a public comment. Advertisement When speaking to reporters in Paris after her gold-medal match victory last summer, Khelif brushed aside questions about her gender. "I am a woman, like any other woman,' Khelif said. 'I was born a woman. I have lived as a woman. I compete as a woman.' Khelif has previously said she wants to win a second gold medal at the 2028 Los Angeles Games. For now, the notion of her receiving clearance to fight against women again at a future Olympics is becoming more difficult to envision.