Employees from a Chinese restaurant in Old Hickory, Tennessee, were caught on video washing their dishes in a local lake.
A Facebook post from Tuesday posted by Lance E Glover exposed employees from No. 1 Chinese Restaurant on Robinson Road who were apparently washing kitchenware in a lake from a dock, News Channel 5 Nashville reports.
“This is the Chinese restaurant in old hickory TN washing all the cooking ware, pots, wash rags, and even grill top in the old hickory lake, I followed them back to restaurant and hid and got them on camera before they caught me recording and stopped bringing stuff back into the restaurant but this is just UNSANITARY BY ALL MEANS and this isn’t the first time this has happened, they do it every week !!!!” the post read.
The social media post alerted the health department to the restaurant’s unsanitary practice. A health inspector reportedly launched an investigation of the restaurant, resulting in the restaurant’s closure due to the potential health hazard. (RELATED: Two Florida Police Officers Shot And Killed At Chinese Restaurant)
“Their explanation was it was a drain that collected a lot of grease, and they wanted to wash it somewhere where that grease wasn’t going down their drain,” Hugh Atkins, Director of Bureau of Environmental Health Services at the Metro Health Department, said.
“It’s disturbing to see something like that,” he continued.
The restaurant was mandated to wash all food preparation surfaces before they were permitted to reopen their doors. The restaurant reopened at 6:30 on Tuesday, though the restaurant’s owner was issued a citation for the health violation, according to News Channel 5 Nashville.
“If customers see that restaurant open, that means we’ve addressed this issue to our satisfaction,” Atkins said.
The restaurant passed it’s most recent health inspection and there haven’t been any reported illnesses over the health violations at the restaurant, according to the Metro Health Department.
The restaurant’s regulars vouch for the cleanliness and quality of the food here.
“I’ve never gotten sick from the food here,” three-year patron Heather Williams said. “It’s clean. I’ve never had any problems.”
A No. 1 Chinese Restaurant manager named Chen told the Daily caller News Foundation that no “food-related” items were washed in the lake.
“Not dishes or utensils, nothing like that. It was nothing food-related.”
Chen did say that a grill top was included in the lake-washed items, but said “we don’t use it to cook food.”
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