By Mary Whitfill
Features Editor

Coppell schools and restaurants were recently evaluated by the City of Coppell Health Department (CHD), scoring exceptionally well in all aspects of the inspections. CHD is responsible for protecting the public health of Coppell residents by inspecting for food safety in restaurants and grocery stores, as well as both public and private schools.

The frequency that each establishment must go through inspection is based on their potential ‘risk,’ which is determined by analyzing the types of food served, the preparation steps, the volume of food and the locations health history. Within in the last few months, over 150 restaurants, schools and day care facilities have undergone inspection and the results have been released to the public.

“The inspection results give consumers a ‘snapshot’ in time of an establishment’s sanitation and cleanliness procedures,” community information officer Sharon Logan said. “The restaurants in Coppell work closely with the Environmental Health Department and its inspectors to provide a safe, quality product. Working together in this manner helps to accomplish the restaurant’s goal of providing a quality product for its patrons, as well as the Health Department’s goal of protecting public health.”

When inspected, facilities are given demerit-based scores as established by the Texas Food Establishment Rules. Demerits are given for each critical violation, which could include anything from combining different types of shellfish in the same container (229.162(12)) to a facility that presents possibility of physical injury (229.162(51)). Based on their demerit accumulation, a facility receives a rating of either excellent, good, acceptable, poor or failing.

Overall, Coppell public facilities performed exceptionally well when evaluated by the CHD. Out of the nine CISD elementary schools, three middle schools and two high schools, only two schools received a score that was not perfect (0). Cottonwood Creek (CCE) and Town Center (TCE) elementary schools were the only schools to receive any type of demerit at all. TCE received four demerits and CCE received five, knocking them out of the ‘excellent’ scoring range.

“My kids go to Town Center, and while I’ve never been worried about the food safety, this makes me wonder what they are doing differently and why they are falling behind,” TCE parent Allison Harrison said. “I’m still not worried, but I hope it doesn’t turn into anything more severe.”

Town Center received one critical violation for expired milk bottles, and three non-critical violations for a broken milk case, damaged weather stripping and shrimp being thawed improperly. CCE received one critical violation for the milk cooler being warmer than the standard temperature, but the issue was corrected while the inspector was present.

Outside of the public school system, a few Coppell restaurants performed below the bar. While a large number of facilities got perfect scores and none failed, restaurants such as Frida’s Mexican Grill and Italian Express received a rating of ‘poor’ with 21 and 22 demerits respectively.

Frida’s Mexican Grill earned 21 demerits for a variety of reasons, including consecutive meat cooking and storing temperature issues. It was reported that their chicken, beef and taco meet was cooked at a temperature 30 degrees to low and their chicken refrigeration was up to 10 degrees warmer than the temperature required to keep bacteria from entering the area.

Italian Express, located on MacArthur Blvd., earned 22 demerits with 10 of them cited as a ‘critical’ problem. Some of the more serious demerits came from hygienic issues like the kitchen sink not having hot water for employees to wash hands and cross contamination, caused by storing raw eggs on top of ready to eat foods.

While these restaurants raise some cause for concern, other popular places performed exceptionally well in their inspections, including newest Coppell restaurant, Schlotzky’s.

“We have to wash our hands if we leave the kitchen for any reason and we use separate knifes to cut everything,” senior Schlotzky’s employee Sydney Salerno said. “We clean off the kitchen counters periodically throughout the day, and we can’t let the different ingredients touch each other. This is important not only for cleanliness, but also in case someone has allergies or cant eat certain foods.”

Also clinching perfect scores were frequently visited restaurants Biggby Coffee, Guero’s Mexican Grill, Marble Slab Creamery, Wendy’s and Which Wich.