Food Safety Report: Mojito Mexican Restaurant, 3303 S Center St, Marshalltown, IA 50158, United States.

3303 South Center Street, Marshalltown, 50158 Iowa, United States

Closure Date: 11/14/2023

Reasons:
- Cooked chicken, chorizo, and carnitas that were placed on a flat-top stove for reheating had only reached a temperature of 89 to 119 degrees – not hot enough to ensure food safety. Also, rice inside a walk-in cooler was measured at 50 degrees and buckets of cut lettuce were measured 46 degrees – both of which were above the 41-degree maximum.

- The ice machine was adulterated by a “heavy buildup” of brown slime on the interior edges, and the food dicer was crusted with dried food and debris.

- Not all of the workers designated as “in charge” were certified food protection managers, and that the handwashing sink in the kitchen was out of service with no hot- or cold-water supply.

- Flying insects are noted throughout the establishment, food storage and equipment-storage areas. Rodent droppings are observed on shelving in the food-storage areas. Insects were observed in the spice-salt mix used for mixed drinks at the bar.

- Rolling cart, with open containers of raw chicken on it, sitting in “water pooled on the floor from backed-up floor drains.”

- Clean equipment and utensils were being stored in an area where they were exposed to splashing from the standing water that had pooled on the floor.

- Some of the kitchen walls were in poor repair and ceiling tiles were missing. Some of the holes in the wall had been repaired with tape that was peeling, and the floors, equipment and shelving each had a “large amount of spilled food, debris, and buildup” on them.

- Light bulbs in the ventilation hood systems are not shielded and have a large amount of dripping grease and residue.

The inspector returned on Nov. 17 and reported finding live and dead insects inside containers of dried spices, bouillon powder and sugar, and made note of the “heavy presence of live cockroaches” in the kitchen’s food-preparation area and storage areas.

Due to the heavy presence of cockroach-like insects in the kitchen area, the person in charge stated that the establishment would remain voluntarily closed until pest-control applications could be completed.

Source: iowacapitaldispatch.com/