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Restaurant Report Card: Employee touches pizza with bare hands

Our first stop is Fuel Pizza on South Boulevard. Their grade was a 90.5, which is good enough for an A, but barely. So, what's going on?

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Some of Charlotte's most popular lunch spots find themselves on this week's Restaurant Report Card, and once again, hand washing is a problem for some of them.

Our first stop is Fuel Pizza on South Boulevard. Their grade was a 90.5, which is good enough for an A, but barely. So, what's going on? Well, an employee was seen touching pizza with bare hands, that's a big no-no in food service. And the diced ham, meatballs, cut sausage, grilled peppers and a host of other foods weren't labeled with dates. That's important because you have to know when food is too old to serve.

Also, some of their cold foods like grilled chicken salad, eggs and regular chicken salad weren't being cooled correctly and were put on display too soon.

Click here to view Fuel Pizza's complete inspection report.

Next up is the Yorkmont Restaurant on Yorkmont Road. They didn't have a food protection manager on site, which is mandatory. They had food in their steam table below 135 degrees, so everything was reheated to 165 degrees to stay in the required hot zone. And just the opposite, some of their cold food wasn't cold enough, so those items were thrown out. Their grade was also a 90.5, a low A.

Click here to view Yorkmont Restaurant's full inspection report.

Last up this week is the Inchin's Bamboo Garden on North Tryon. There were no soap or paper towels at the hand washing sink. An employee was about to use a cutting board that was sitting on the floor, but that's not nearly as bad as the next violation. There was a tub of cooked cabbage that was set out too cool. Ten hours later, it was still there at 71 degrees, not the required 45 degrees within six hours.

Food not cooling fast enough and staying too warm can increase the likelihood of bacteria growth that can cause a food borne illness. The cabbage in question was thrown away. The grade at Inchin's was an 84, which is a mid-level B. A surprise drop from their last score, which was a strong A at 96.

Click here to view Inchin's full inspection report.

Remember, you don't need a poor grade to have issues in the kitchen. If the score is below a 95, you might want to check. The most serious things are hand washing issues and food temperature problems. Those can make you sick!

Click here to view more Restaurant Report Cards.

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