Business

New Canaan’s ‘Mead Park Lodge’ Earns Consistently High Marks on Surprise Health Inspections

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The Mead Park Lodge (or ‘Apple Cart Food Co.’) the popular breakfast and lunch destination owned and operated by New Canaan’s Emad Aziz, has earned perfect or near-perfect marks from health inspectors for several years, records show. Out of a possible 100 points, the seasonal food counter for nearly one decade has earned an average of 97 during unannounced biennial inspections by sanitarians with the New Canaan Health Department, according to a review of the establishment’s files. Officials in the health department declined to provide a general characterization for such a score, not specific to Mead Park Lodge, or to offer a general comment about how all New Canaan food establishments, taken together, fare on inspections. Sanitarians use a state Department of Public Health standard, citing eateries for violations that range in seriousness and corresponding weight from 1 to 4 points. A “failed” inspection is triggered either by one or more 4-point violations or a total score of less than 80 points.

News

Health Inspection: Rare Major Violation at NCHS Cafeteria

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For the first time in nearly a decade, health officials found a major “4-point” violation at New Canaan High School cafeteria’s kitchen during an unannounced inspection. On Sept. 1, a sanitarian with the New Canaan Health Department found chicken cutlets at 115 degrees and chicken parmesan at 129 degrees in a hot holding cabinet at NCHS, according to the inspection report. The internal temperature of cooked chicken should be 165 degrees or higher, as measured with a food thermometer, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A follow-up plan for the food service staff includes training its members to check temperatures between shifts, according to the report.