ABC Chinese inspected after body found inside

Health inspectors visited a Chinese restaurant in east Columbia this week after a man’s body was found inside.

Police called inspectors from the Columbia/Boone County Department of Public Health and Human Services after the discovery Monday of a body in the kitchen at ABC Chinese on I-70 Drive S.E.

The owner told ABC 17 News that he found an apparent burglar dead in the restaurant’s kitchen when he went inside his business Monday morning.

Ming Sun Wong showed ABC 17 News where he said the man fell through the ceiling in the restauarant’s kitchen. Blood was on the floor and drops of blood were visible on fallen ceiling tile.

Police found bodily fluid in the kitchen and called inspectors.

The inspectors found one critical violation and two non-critical violations.

Critical violation:

Dishes/Tupperware on two rollcarts and shelves must be washed, rinsed and santitzed.

Non-critical violations:

Floor must be thoroughly cleaned and sanitized. Repair ceiling.

The floor’s condition, where ABC 17 News observed blood after the owner took a crew through the kitchen Monday, received a non-critical violation from the health department.

“Regarding the floor, according to definitions in the food code, a critical item is, essentially, one that directly affects the safety of the food,” Health Department Assistant Director Scott Clardy wrote in an email Wednesday. “Since the bodily fluids were on the floor, they would not come into direct contact with the food since food is not prepared on the floor.”

He said the floor doesn’t touch the food, so it was not considered a critical violation.

On the other hand, he said the “dishes and Tupperware on some roll carts had to be washed, rinsed and sanitized,” because they come into contact with food. That was labeled as a critical violation.

Clardy said there wasn’t any “noticeable evidence of bodily fluids on the dishes and tupperware, but since they were in the general location of the event, this was required as a precautionary measure.”

The health department inspected ABC Chinese three times in 2018.

A Dec. 28 inspection had six critical violations for the following:

Mold growing in the ice machine No soap and paper towels at multiple sinks (four violations) Employee drink sitting on a food prep station

Inspectors did another inspection on Aug. 30 and did not find any violations.

An April 19 inspection had three critical violations and one non-critical violation.

Critical violations:

Raw meats stored above vegetables in walk-in cooler. Food stored in shopping bags. No paper towels at hand sinks.

Non-critical violation:

Lid of large flip-top cooler was falling apart and was held together with tape. Sign up for email news alerts by clicking here