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Dirty Dining: Subway temporarily shuts down for rats and roaches near food in the kitchen

Posted at 11:04 PM, Oct 19, 2016
and last updated 2016-10-20 00:01:26-04

New this fall, Subway is offering an 'Autumn Carved Turkey Sandwich' but one local subway couldn't serve that or anything for over seven hours last week.

Our ABC Action News I-Team uncovered that on Tuesday, October 11, Subway at 1951 East Adamo Drive Unit C in Tampa had to temporarily close from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. after inspectors saw over 20 live and dead roaches near the bread warmers, bread machine, sandwich cooler, counter, near chips for customers, reach in cooler, and the cookie display.

The state also found evidence of rats inside the kitchen with over 35 rodent droppings under the dry storage shelving area, behind the bread warmer on the front line and rodent chew marks on the wood under the shelving area.

Pesticide/insecticide labeled for 'household use only' was also present in the establishment, which is a violation as restaurants need to have a commercial company spraying for insects.

Among the 30-violations documented last week, inspectors also discovered employees failing to wash their hands, build-up of a mold-like substance near the customer's fountain machine and ice chute on the self-service drink machine and no required employee training certificates for the staff.

Just three months ago, inspectors also found other high priority violations with cold food at dangerous temperatures that could make you sick.

The state found Swiss cheese at 45 degrees, egg patties at 47 degrees and milk at 49 degrees. All cold food should be 41 degrees or below.

The state also documented hot food not hot enough with chicken at 128 degrees when it should be over 135 degrees or above.

Subway's Statement: 

The franchisee took immediate corrective action to address the issues brought forward by the Board of Health. As a result, everything is in compliance and running smoothly now. The Health Department has given the location a clean bill of health. We have taken this opportunity to re-inspect all shops in the area to ensure compliance with our strict food safety standards.