Sacramento County health inspectors shut down the kitchen at Rosemont High School after finding more than 400 rodent droppings scattered throughout the food facility, along with an outdated health permit, contaminated packaging materials and old flour stored in a cooler. The kitchen was first hit with a red placard on Monday, September 21, after inspectors found more than 400 droppings. During a further inspection on Tuesday, September 22, they found 320 droppings and issued an additional red placard. The kitchen passed a follow-up inspection with a green placard the next day.
The closure and rapid turnaround were detailed by The Sacramento Bee, which reported that inspectors documented five separate violations at the campus, located at 9594 Kiefer Blvd. in Sacramento. A red placard in Sacramento County signals imminent danger to public health and safety, and it suspends an establishment's health permit until the violations that triggered it are corrected. Major vermin contamination, like the droppings found at Rosemont, is one condition that can warrant that designation, according to The Sacramento Bee.
Droppings Turned Up Near Fresh Food Deliveries
Inspectors found rodent droppings inside the food storage area itself, according to the Bee's report, in a space that at the time contained a fresh shipment of bananas, chips, popcorn, cups and containers. The kitchen also had carrots stored directly on the floor of its walk-in cooler, another detail noted in the inspection findings covered by the outlet.
Staff voluntarily discarded cling film, ovenable pan liners and baking cups after those materials were found to be contaminated, the report states. Inspectors also noted that the three-door upright cooler had a mildew smell and that old flour was stored in a cooler. On top of the sanitation issues, the kitchen's posted health permit was outdated at the time of inspection.
How Placards Work in Sacramento County
Sacramento County's color-coded placard system is meant to give the public a quick read on a food facility's status. A green placard simply means an establishment passed inspection, while a yellow placard signals that two or more major violations were found, as reported by The Sacramento Bee. A red placard, the most serious of the three, indicates a suspended permit and a closure until problems are fixed — which is what happened at Rosemont before it cleared its follow-up inspection with a green placard the next day.
Closures like this one are relatively rare countywide. Sacramento County performs about 14,000 food facility inspections annually, and roughly 97% of establishments pass inspection, according to figures attributed to Ken Casparis in the Bee's reporting. Only about 1% of inspections result in a closure, per the same figures.
Reporting Concerns and Getting Answers
Consumers who want to flag health violations at a restaurant, food truck or cafe can file a complaint with the facility's local environmental health department, which is responsible for the initial investigation of such complaints. The California Department of Public Health has said that local health departments handle that first step whenever a complaint comes in about a retail food facility, as noted by The Sacramento Bee.
The Bee reported that it was unable to reach Rosemont High School for comment because the school's phone number was no longer in service, leaving open questions about how the droppings accumulated and what steps followed beyond the documented reinspection.
