Rachael Ferry: The Triangle
On March 22, the Insomnia Cookies truck parked on 33rd St. was subject to nine citations, three of which are considered serious violations, following a surprise visit from a health inspector from the Philadelphia Department of Health and Office of Food Protection.
Among the violations listed in the report were a lack of hot water, employees not knowing the proper “handwashing procedure,” evidence of insects and rodents inside the truck, and defective equipment in need of repairs. All nine of the issues were noted as being new violations. Nonetheless none of them were resolved during the inspection, unlike the other vendors being cited, such as the New York Gyro cart across the street, which was able to fix all 4 of their discrepancies before the inspector completed the report.
“We may not have any immediate changes, but the inspection was about two weeks ago, and we’ve been taking care of everything the health department pointed out,” Shannon Pacheco, the manager of the Insomnia truck on 33rd, said. “A few of the problems could have just been mistakes made by someone new, or someone still being trained, and most of the others we already knew about and were already in the process of fixing,” Pacheco continued.
Prior to 2015, the Department of Health did not release their reports to the public until 30 days after the initial inspection, allowing for establishments to correct any mistakes or risk factors before being checked again and given a revised score. This was changed when citizen complaints arose around the fact that Philadelphia was the only major city in the country to abide by this policy. Originally, this 30-day policy was designed to encourage the education of restaurant owners or managers, and the consequential improvement of their business.
Following this change in inspection practices, the number of violations cited on public health inspection reports has increased dramatically, including the case of the Handschumacher Dining Hall. Last November, the Hans was reported to have broken nine separate health codes, while the year before it had only received one citation.
“I think not giving us time to take care of the problem is a little unfair, especially since our grade is public to everyone,” Pacheco explained. “But I want to say that I don’t think the health department as a whole is unfair or unimportant. Of course we’re more than happy to cooperate with them and appreciate how important the department is to the well being of everyone in the city.”
The Insomnia Cookies truck does not plan to close while these violations are being remedied. The truck will be open for business during its normal hours on Chestnut Street between 33rd and 34th streets until roadwork is completed between 33rd Street and Market Street.
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