Washing hands without soap part of failing health score for Duluth restaurant

DULUTH, Ga. — Update March 27, 2019: Dai Loi scored an 83 on its reinspection.

---------------------------------

Earlier Version:

Poor handwashing is just one of the violations that caused a Gwinnett County restaurant to fail a health inspection.

Pho Dai Loi on Pleasant Hill Road in Duluth, a Vietnamese restaurant, got a health inspection score of 42 Wednesday.

One of the owners told Channel 2's Carol Sbarge he believes a language barrier was a factor in the low score.

[SPECIAL SECTION: Restaurant Inspections]

Violations included an employee washing hands without soap, an employee observed handling raw beef and then handling ready-to-eat foods, and several items not cooling fast enough.

This was the third consecutive time the restaurant had the violation of not cooling food fast enough, so its permit was temporarily suspended. It was reinstated after training.

TRENDING STORIES:

• SWAT teams get naked man off Midtown roof after hours-long standoff
• Lawmaker submits bill to keep Georgia on Daylight Saving Time
• Women arrested after shot fired in violent Marietta home invasion

“I think the big thing is the language barrier where the inspector and my staff didn't really understand each other,” co-owner Ky Luong told Sbarge.

Luong said his family has several restaurants in metro Atlanta. He says they pride themselves on their very clean restaurants and authentic food.

He said the focus now is making sure the staff understands proper handwashing procedures, as well as all the food safety rules in Georgia.

“I will retrain my staff to do it longer and to fix up everything,” Luong promised.

The restaurant’s previous score was an 84. We’ll let you know how they do on the reinspection.

Cox Media Group