Miami-Dade Smoothie King can’t receive new food after failing 2 inspections in 2 weeks

A Smoothie King in West Miami-Dade, which chose to stay closed after failing inspection on July 29, chose to do so after failing inspection again Friday — but had less choice this time.

After Stop-Use Orders were put on “all receiving areas” and “all receiving of food products” by a state inspector Friday, the franchise at 9231 W. Flagler St. remained closed as of Sunday. The Stop-Use Orders from the July 29 orders remained on a smoothie station a blender, an ice machine, two two-door reach-in coolers, two chest freezers, a three-door reach-in freezer, and the three-compartment sink.

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A failed Florida Department of Agriculture inspection doesn’t automatically shut down the business, the way a failed Department of Business and Professional Regulation inspection does a restaurant. But an inspector can hit so many areas or pieces of equipment with Stop-Use Orders that management decides it shouldn’t or can’t open.

That’s what happened at this Smoothie King, which, like other Smoothie Kings, is classified as a health food store because it sells other companies’ protein bars, powders and nutritional products. After Inspector James Zheng found various problems on July 29, the store closed over the weekend for cleaning.

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Inspector Laura Sanchez came on Aug. 3 and last Tuesday, Aug. 9, for what are called “Focused Inspections.” Despite the name, these aren’t considered an inspection and there isn’t an inspection summary, but the inspector looks at a specific facet.

After the first Focused Inspection, Inspector Sanchez wrote that the original Stop-Use Order from July 29 would stay because of “pest issues.” The second Focused Inspection brought the comment “unable to release Stop-Use and/or Stop Sale Order due to pest issue/unsanitary.”

Friday, Inspector Zheng returned to this store, owned by Fausto Faraldo’s Related Group Flagler, for the full, two-weeks-after-a-failed-inspection re-inspection.

In the backroom, he saw “several small flying insects ... flying around backroom, in between storage racks.”

In the food service area, Zheng saw, “live roach observed in a corner of the underside of a stainless steel rolling table kept next to register. Stop-Use Order issued for all receiving and all receiving areas.”

Also, “several small dead roaches observed on the floor in the space underneath the blender rinsing station.”