License reinstated for buffet

The New Mexico Environment Department’s Environmental Health Division reinstated the food establishment permit for Fuzhou Buffet in Clovis after determining management corrected all high-risk violations of state food service regulations, according to a news release.

Restaurant managers moved the restaurant’s grease trap outdoors, which eliminated the potential contamination of the food supply, the release stated.

Restaurant managers also labeled and placed the date on food products, the document reads.

“NMED staff inspected the facility (Friday) and allowed the restaurant to reopen at (noon),” Ana Marie Ortiz, director of NMED’s Environmental Health Division, was quoted as saying in the release. “We will continue to monitor the restaurant to ensure it complies with standard operating procedures put in place to protect the health of patrons.”

NMED suspended the permit of the restaurant, located at 116 East 21st St., on Tuesday after discovering major violations of Food Service and Food Processing Regulations that posed threats to human health and safety. Those violations included having a grease trap in the kitchen that created the potential of food contamination, having a grease trap that fed into the city’s sewer line and failing to properly label and date food, according to the release.

Restaurant staff will be required to attend a mandatory food safety training course offered by the department to increase the staff’s knowledge about food safety and service regulations.