By Jack Miller
Special to Inside
Mayor Daley's Dumpster Task Force has closed Carniceria Roman, 2633 W. Armitage Ave., due to heavy rodent (rat) infestation and for selling cheese without labels that came from an unknown source.
Inspectors were told that they would find heavy rodent activity at this Armitage Avenue location and all they had to do to confirm it was to take a deep breath. Inspectors said they were hit by a "horrific" odor when they opened the door to Carniceria Roman's basement food storage area. Aside from the extreme odor they found evidence of extreme rodent infestation.....more than 1,000 rat droppings on and around shelving where numerous food stuffs were stored.
Upstairs inspectors found extremely poor housekeeping and numerous holes and gaps that could provide rats with harborage areas. They also identified more than 19 pounds of Mexican-style cheese that had no labels and that came from a source no one knew or could verify. This mystery cheese was immediately disposed of by the management.
"When veteran inspectors come back from a closing with stories like this you know that this establishment had some very serious problems," said Streets & Sanitation Commissioner Al Sanchez. "We're hopeful that management learns from this experience and completely turns things around at this location."
Carniceria Roman was closed for the critical violations of inadequate pest control and selling food from an unknown source. It will not be allowed to reopen until they present the Task Force with revised guidelines for pest control and housekeeping, clean their business, repair all holes and gaps and then pass a top to bottom reinspection.
Mayor Daley established the Dumpster Task Force in 1994 to seek out and address problems caused by food handling businesses that put their customers at risk by poor housekeeping and unsanitary practices. |
