Premises Information


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Name

LA CARIDAD RESTAURANT

Address

6404 ALBEMARLE RD

STE A

City/State/ZIP

CHARLOTTE

28212

Premise Type

1 - Restaurant

County

Mecklenburg

Inspection Date

6/26/2025

Final Score @ Grade

General Comments

Facility is Spanish-speaking only, but one food employee in the kitchen was able to translate some things to the PIC. Anything that was not understood was translated back and forth from English to Spanish and vice versa, via google translate on PIC and EHS's phones. EHS observed paper towel dispenser, soap dispenser, handwashing sign, and hole in wall for possible plumbing, and no actual handsink, all located in the dining room. PIC stated there was not a handsink there and this is how it was when they bought the facility. EHS also observed a HH steam table with a sneeze guard (not currently in-use or storing any food items) in the dining room, along with a HH countertop display case next to the beverage cooler in the dining room. PIC left before more questions could be asked about the plans for these added equipment and also the handwashing items, so EHS will make another visit on-site to confirm what's going on and assess if plans are within permit conditions to see if permit action needs to be taken.

Violations

CDI=Corrected During Inspection

R=Repeat Violation

VR=Verification Required

Violation Item	Demerits	Violation Description	CDI	R	VR	Comments
1	1	PIC Present, demonstrates knowledge, & performs duties	Yes	No	No	2-103.11(A-P) PIC shall ensure rules in the code for food safety and handling are met. -Pf Observed PIC present (who is ServSafe certified) and the food employee were both unaware of the cold holding temperatures for the refrigeration units. PIC mentioned to EHS that the TCS food items stored inside the make table need to be at 45F, and asked if that was correct. CDI: EHS explained proper cold holding temperatures to PIC and food employee and advised to frequently check temperatures of their TCS food items in all refrigeration units on a regular basis. A Food Safety Checklist can be found at: www.mecknc.gov/foodsafety along with more food safety information related to PIC Duties, Training, and managing food safety.
8	2	Hands clean & properly washed	Yes	No	No	2-301.14 (F) Wash hands during food preparation, as often as necessary to remove soil and contamination, and to prevent cross contamination when changing tasks. -P Observed the PIC and food employee wash their hands at the handsink inside the kitchen then turn the faucets off with cleaned hands, without any sort of protective barrier. CDI: EHS educated both individuals and observed them wash their hands again properly.
15	0	Food separated & protected	Yes	No	No	3-304.11 (A) Food shall only contact surfaces of properly cleaned and sanitized equipment and utensils. -P Observed a multi-use bowl full of cooked chicken wings stored directly inside a bus tub full of raw chicken wings inside the WIC. CDI: EHS explained to PIC why this is a violation and PIC removed the bowl.
22	1.50	Proper cold holding temperatures	No	No	No	3-501.16(A)(2) Maintain TCS foods in cold holding at 41F or less. -P Observed all TCS food items cold holding inside the make table above 41F (see temp chart). EHS observed ambient air temp of the unit was 57F-67F in the top portion of the make table, and 51F-52F on the lowboy portion of the make table. A pan of cut lettuce and a pan of sliced tomatoes prepared an hour prior and placed straight into this unit to cool increased in temp after 40 minutes had passed. Observed multiple TCS food items cold holding inside the WIC above 41F (see temp chart). EHS observed ambient air temp of the WIC was 41F, and all TCS food items that were cold holding above 41F were not prepared today and were stored in plastic containers with tightly-fitting lids. Only food item that was in it's cooling process from today were two containers of peeled and sliced plantains that were stored in water, which EHS calculated were meeting the cooling rate inside the WIC. PIC voluntarily discarded all TCS food items from the make table and the TCS food items that were not prepared today and temping above 41F inside the WIC. **Facility voluntarily closed operations due to the single make table not working properly. EHS observed ambient air temp of 92F of the room where make table is placed, which is also where fryers, oven, and flattop grill are stored, and PIC also stated that their A/C unit is out and the technician is scheduled to visit the facility to repair the A/C unit tomorrow. PIC called the technician to see if he could come out ASAP instead of waiting until tomorrow, and technician stated he would be out here at 5:00PM. EHS explained to PIC that they can voluntarily open the facility once technician made repairs and the make table was reading 41F or below, and PIC stated that she understood. VERIFICATION REQUIRED within 3 days to ensure facility is in compliance. For more information, please visit: www.mecknc.gov/foodsafety or view our training videos at the following weblinks: What are TCS Foods https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0iLZb7v0UM and Safe Food Temperatures https://youtu.be/tXP09IK-1TQ .
23	1.50	Proper date marking & disposition	Yes	Yes	No	3-501.18 Discard the food requiring date labels once time/temperature window has expired, if it is not been labeled, or if the label is incorrect. -P Observed a container of sliced tomatoes cooling inside the make table with a date label from 6/24. PIC stated her employee wrote the incorrect date, and sliced tomatoes were prepped and placed into the make table to cool down at 11:00AM this morning. CDI: Food employee voluntarily discarded container of sliced tomatoes. REPEAT VIOLATION. *Note: Although this is a repeat violation, EHS observed great improvement for date-marking throughout the facility and only one TCS food item was observed incorrectly marked. Decreasing point deduction today, instead of taking full points. For more information, please visit: https://health.mecknc.gov/envhealth/food-and-facilities-sanitation or view our training videos at the following weblinks: What are TCS Foods https://youtu.be/bRvqAETDjQU and Date Marking Food Safely https://youtu.be/BOPsSNUajYs .
33	0.50	Proper cooling methods used; adequate equipment for temperature control	Yes	No	No	3-501.15 Quickly cool foods. Use methods such as open/vented shallow pans, large ice baths and active stirring. Cold air must flow around product to remove the heat. -Pf Observed the two TCS food items that were cooling inside the make table did not have a temperature drop after 40 minutes had passed, and actually rose in temp. CDI: Food employee voluntarily discarded both TCS food items, and EHS explained that make tables are not designed to cool food down, and to utilize the WIF or WIC to cool down. Observed TCS food items that were not prepared today, temping above 41F inside the WIC. PIC stated they use ice baths to cool food down before placing into WIC. EHS advised PIC to take temps of all TCS food items during the cooling process, so that TCS food items are temping at or below 41F before they are tightly-covered and placed into the WIC to cold hold. CDI: PIC voluntarily discarded all TCS food items temping above 41F inside the WIC, as they had missed the cooling window. For more information, please visit: https://health.mecknc.gov/envhealth/food-and-facilities-sanitation or view our training videos at the following weblinks: What are TCS Foods https://youtu.be/bRvqAETDjQU and Cooling Food Safely https://youtu.be/P6x8b1ZVOxU .
40	0	Personal cleanliness	No	No	No	2-402.11 Use head coverings, beard guards and clothing to restrain body hair from contacting exposed food, equipment, and utensils. Observed one food employee engaged in food prep in the kitchen without a hair restraint. Ensure all employees engaged in food prep have some sort of hair restraint to prevent contamination.
47	0	Equipment, food & non-food contact surfaces approved, cleanable, properly designed, constructed & used	No	No	No	4-501.11 Maintain equipment in good repair. Observed torn gasket in lowboy cooler of make table. Repair/replace torn gasket.
56	0.50	Meets ventilation & lighting requirements; designated areas used	No	Yes	No	6-303.11 Provide required lighting intensity. Observed no light inside the WIF; EHS used flashlight to check food items stored inside WIF. Obtain lighting inside WIF. REPEAT VIOLATION.