Cafeteria Is Quiet as a Mouse

No vermin were on the agenda for Tuesday’s meeting of the county Board of Supervisors, but a rumor scurried and skittered through the room all morning.

It came on little rat feet, and spread like wildfire through the Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration.

“Did you hear about the rats in the cafeteria?”

It was said that a patron’s meal the day before had been interrupted by the cross-cafeteria jaunt of a good-sized rodent, that health inspectors had been dispatched to the scene and that evidence had been found.

It was just a nasty rumor until about halfway through the lunch hour, when someone shut the door to the popular basement eatery and taped a cryptic Health Department notice to the window.

There was no specific mention on the document of the word “rat,” just two state health codes.

114030. Exclusion of Vermin

A food facility shall at all times be so constructed, equipped, maintained and operated as to prevent the entrance and harborage of animals, birds and vermin, including, but not limited to, rodents and insects.

114040. Maintenance of Premises

The premises of each food facility shall be kept clean and free of litter, rubbish and vermin.

Post-closure, John F. Schunhoff, chief of operations for the county office of Public Health Programs and Services, confirmed what had only been whispered before.

“We got a complaint yesterday that someone had seen what they described as a rat running across the floor,” Schunhoff said. “We did an inspection this morning.”

According to documents obtained from the Health Department, inspectors found troubling clues. There were holes in the wall of a storage room and suspicious droppings under the dishwashing machine and on cooking utensils. But it was under some cooking equipment that the inspectors found their smoking gun -- an occupied weapon of mouse destruction: a dead rat on a glue trap.

There are only a handful of violations that can lead to the immediate suspension of a public health permit, according to Schunhoff. Sewage contamination is one, no hot water is another, along with gross unsanitary conditions, unsafe food temperatures, communicable disease transmission and vermin infestation.

“They can’t reopen for 48 hours,” Schunhoff said.

But even after the closure was announced, the cafeteria continued to serve a few stragglers. Barrow Gillum, a county property appraiser, had just finished the roast turkey special with a side helping of chow mein when he glimpsed the closure sign on his way out.

“Oh man, come on now,” he said, starting to chuckle. “This wasn’t here when I came in!” Told of the nature of the violation, he said, “Oh, man. A rat? What, was it dead on a plate?”

A co-worker wanted to know if he would ask for a refund.

“No,” Gillum sighed, looking slightly queasy as he jumped onto the escalator.

*

Times staff writer Sue Fox contributed to this report.