Soul Vegetarian Restaurant - CHICAGO

July 8, 2005

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Tim Hadac, 312-747-9805

South Side Health Food Restaurants Shut By City Health Department Hundreds of Pounds of Tofu, Gallons of Soy Milk Discarded

Two health-food restaurants on the South Side were ordered closed today for practices that could jeopardize the public health.

Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH) inspectors shut down Soul Vegetarian Restaurant, 205 E. 75th Street, after finding a walk-in cooler failing to reach the 40 degrees or colder required by law, over 1,000 pounds of food at unsafe temperatures (including tofu and vegetable salads), no soap and hand towels at the food handlers' hand washing sink, mouse feces in a storage area, an outside area strewn with trash, and a kitchen in need of detailed cleaning.

Eternity Juice Bar & Deli, 201 E. 75th Street, was ordered closed when Health Department inspectors found a walk-in cooler failing to reach 40 degrees, 24 gallons of soy milk stored at an unsafe temperature (54 degrees), waste water backing up in a three-compartment sink, and an outside area strewn with trash.

Both establishments will remain closed until they have been cleaned up and brought back into compliance with the city's health regulations, according to CDPH Acting Commissioner William Paul, M.D.

The inspection at Eternity was triggered by a citizen who called 311 to complain about employees handling soiled paper money and not washing their hands before they made smoothies. No such practice was observed today. The inspection at Soul Vegetarian was a routine, unannounced inspection.

The enforcement actions were the 162nd and 163rd times in 2005 that Health Department inspectors have shut a food establishment for violations of the Chicago Health Code. In addition to being closed down, representatives of both establishments will have to explain their failures at administrative hearings next month and pay fines that could reach $2,000.

Chicagoans who believe that a restaurant or food establishment is operating in an unsafe manner are encouraged to dial 311 and report it.