Restaurant Roundup: Multiple public health violations lead to temporary closure of Fargo’s Pizza

EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) -- El Paso County Public Health ordered Fargo's Pizza to temporarily close after a routine health inspection found multiple critical food safety violations, including employees failing to wash their hands, plumbing problems that left sinks unusable, and a lack of certified food safety management.

The restaurant, according to the owner, was closed for around 26 hours before a reinspection allowed it to reopen.

According to the inspection report conducted on July 20, inspectors cited numerous violations throughout the restaurant, including:

• The person in charge was not a Certified Food Protection Manager and was unable to correctly answer food safety questions.
• Employees were observed returning from outside and handling food without washing their hands, putting on gloves without first washing their hands, and washing their hands in a food preparation sink instead of a designated handwashing sink.
• Handwashing sinks were blocked by equipment, lacked paper towels, and the kitchen did not have enough functioning handwashing sinks.
• Food handlers were seen touching their clothes, hats and glasses while wearing gloves, switching tasks without changing gloves, and handling items from the floor before touching utensils and equipment.
• Raw hamburger was stored above drinks and potato salad, creating a cross-contamination risk. Inspectors said the issue was corrected during the inspection.
• The restaurant's mechanical dishwasher registered 0 parts per million chlorine sanitizer, and employees were observed drying dishes with towels instead of allowing them to air dry.
• Sanitizer concentrations exceeded recommended levels, cleaning chemicals were stored near food, and several spray bottles were unlabeled.

Inspectors also documented sanitation and maintenance concerns, including dirty equipment and surfaces, handwashing sinks with no water pressure or clogged drains, missing floor tiles, and holes in walls and ceilings.

Because of the violations, El Paso County Public Health ordered it to cease operations until the issues were corrected.

Al Martinez, General Manager of Fargo’s, said the hand-washing sink was the core issue that led to the shutdown. He explained that there was not an operational hand-washing sink in the kitchen when he arrived in 2021, and the need for a second one had not been previously identified until this inspection. Martinez said his team worked quickly to resolve the issue.

El Paso County Health told KRDO13 there were no new requirements for hand sinks, but they required that existing infrastructure be returned to working condition based on the violations inspectors observed.

Martinez acknowledged the other violations. “We’re not perfect people, of course there’s some violations in there. We’re not trying to skirt the onus of that,” Martinez said.

Martinez says he invited community members to visit the restaurant for a direct explanation of what occurred.

“This is nothing to run from. We can show you what...went on and if you want to do that, it’s a public’s choice.”

Learn what other restaurants saw health inspection violations in this week's full Restaurant Roundup here.

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