WARNING: GRAPHIC PHOTOS Appear to Show Unsanitary Conditions Similar to Recent Violations

WARNING: GRAPHIC PHOTO BELOW Updated at 2:30 pm, when the Owner of the Restaurant refused to comment.

For the third time in three weeks, state inspectors returned on Monday to a Lititz restaurant where deer brains, heads, tails, and other parts were discovered and which was cited for 32 code violations over a two-day period in mid-December. The restaurant, New China House at 721 S. Broad St. in Lititz, was closed by the state for two days as a result of what inspectors found there.

“The food content areas and food storage was grossly unsanitary, that was one reason, but at the same time, the sanitarian had to determine if the food products that were in the cooler came from an approved source,” said Dr. Lydia Johnson, director of the PA Department of Agriculture’s bureau of food safety and laboratory services in an interview with LititzDailyNews.com on Monday. “To do that, they actually ask for invoices, and they match the products to the invoices.”

READ RELATED STORY: HOW DO LITITZ RESTAURANTS RATE ON STATE INSPECTIONS?

On Monday, a graphic photo of deer heads in a bucket at the restaurant emerged.  One head, with its tongue curled around its upper lip, is surrounded by two others in a blood-spattered bucket in a 2014 photograph taken by a former employee. The image paints a gruesome picture of what inspectors may have found on December 16, 2015 when they closed the restaurant.

The Pennsylvania Game Commission confiscated the deer parts and is investigating the source of the animals. It is illegal in Pennsylvania for wild deer to be sold in restaurants.

SEE RELATED STORY: DEER BRAINS DISCOVERED AT CHINESE RESTAURANT IN LITITZ

“The sale of domestic-raised venison is permitted,” said Travis Lau, spokesperson for the Game Commission. “All domesticated deer-captive cervids-are under the authority and oversight of the Department of Agriculture.”

Penn Live reported that the owner of the restaurant claimed to have obtained the deer parts from a deer butchering house in Elizabethtown.

“If that story were to check out, then you’re dealing with wild deer and not these farm-raised deer, the meat of which is only available through this permitting process and regulated sales,” said Lau. The prohibition is on the sale of wild game.”

Investigators are trying to determine whether the deer was ever served to customers.

“If there is a prepared dish that is shown to have venison that your investigation would lead you to believe came from the wild, you still haven’t shown that it’s been sold,” said Lau.

However, even if the owner reserved the deer for his and his wife’s consumption as reportedly claimed, the Department of Agriculture inspection turned up improper storage of the deer parts.

“Food for personal consumption needs to be kept separately than food that is used in retail facilities for the public, and that was not being adhered to,” said Dr. Johnson. “It needs to be in a closed container and marked.” That was not the case at the Lititz restaurant.

“Things were not separate, and covered and marked, not at all,” said Dr. Johnson. That is part of what led to the closure of the restaurant on December 16.

On Monday, a former employee of New China House provided exclusive photos of deer heads in a bucket that she took while employed at the restaurant in December 2014 to LititzDailyNews.com. Sierra McBroom, who worked at the restaurant for three years, provided a photo of uncovered food in 5-gallon buckets inside a cooler that appears to have mold-spotted walls. She claims that the restaurant only had about ten 5-gallon buckets, which were re-used without proper cleansing procedures.

“They used the same buckets for a lot of things without sanitizing them. They have been used for deer heads, broccoli, raw chicken, and multiple vegetables,” said McBroom.

A man who answered the phone at New China House today and identified himself as the owner refused to comment and hung up.

The state closed the restaurant based on what was observed, but has since allowed it to re-open. Readers can review the detailed state inspection reports for New China House on the PA Department of Agriculture’s food inspection site here.

“We did close the facility for a period of time, until [the inspector] could determine the source of the products, and they started cleaning immediately,” said Dr. Johnson. The inspector returned the next day and found one additional item that she could not determine the source of, so the item, reported by the state to be pig stomach, was destroyed.

News of the discovery of deer brains at the restaurant spread around the world. Stories about the restaurant have appeared in the New York Daily News, the Daily Mail in the United Kingdom, and on other news sites since Penn Live first published a story on December 30. On Sunday, it was a trending story on Facebook.

After learning of the news, many in the Lititz community have commented on the LititzDailyNews.com Facebook page wondering why the restaurant has been allowed to re-open in light of the findings.

“We’re held to very strict guidelines on when we can close a facility and when we can’t. They had cleaned the facility to the point that it was not an imminent health hazard and the products were removed, so there was no reason that we could keep them closed.”

Inspectors returned yesterday for a “Type 2” inspection to determine if the restaurant was yet compliant.

“The sanitarian and her supervisor are there presently for another follow-up,” Dr. Lydia Johnson told LititzDailyNews.com on Monday afternoon. “It appears that there has been a significant improvement.”

The addition of a second set of eyes, in this case those of a superior, adds credence to the inspection.

“Normally it is one inspector,” said Dr. Johnson. “For more complex situations, we will have a supervisor join the sanitarian, and that’s the case today.” Inspector Patrice Blesneac and supervisor Nicole Martz were at the restaurant yesterday. The agency is responsible for inspecting about 50,000 food facilities in the state.

Results of yesterday’s inspection, a Type 2 Follow-up, were posted today to the state database and list only two violations:

  • Bean Sprouts, pork fried won tons and cooked egg were held at room temperature rather than 41F or less. Internal temperature of eggs and won tons measured 60F to 64F. Discarded. Sprouts were still below 41 and placed back in refrigeration.
  • Food in walk-in freezer found stored in plastic shopping bags rather than in a plastic container or new single use bag.

It may be several weeks before the results of the species identification tests are completed and the investigation of the Pennsylvania Game Commission is concluded. No matter the outcome, the state plans to keep an eye on the restaurant.

“A facility that we see may have issues, we are certainly there more frequently,” said Dr. Johnson. The inspections are unannounced, and may last from an hour to a day.

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