Sept. 6, 2016 By Hannah Wulkan
The New York City Department of Health shut down an Astoria Chinese restaurant for sanitary violations last week.
New Giant Chinese Food, located at 18-23 Astoria Boulevard, racked up 43 violation points at the inspection on September 1.
Two of the violations were marked critical, including the presence of live roaches in the restaurant and food that was not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, or display or service.
The violations marked as non-critical included the facility not being vermin-proof and an unacceptable material used to construct a “nonfood contact surface,” or a surface that is not used in the preparation of food.
This is not the first time that the restaurant has been shut down for poor sanitary practices. New Giant was closed by the Health Department in January for similar violations, receiving 36 violation points. However it reopened less than two weeks later after cleaning up and receiving an A grade, with only 12 violation points.
Old inspection reports show that live roaches and improperly stored food have been persistent problems at the restaurant.
The Health Department doles out letter grades based on a point system, with more points equaling more serious sanitation issues. Any restaurant that receives between zero and 13 points receives an A grade, any receiving between 14 and 27 points gets a B grade, and any with 28 or more points gets a C grade. Each point value is assigned based on the size and scale of the violation.
However, if certain violations are considered especially problematic, the Health Department can shut down the restaurant. Once a restaurant is shut down by the Health Department, it will be re-inspected once per month until it scores below 28 points, or the Department will close it for serious and persistent violations.
Calls to the restaurant for further information on how it is responding to the violations and when it might reopen went unanswered.
