Bozeman sushi restaurant responds after health department finds more violations

We take these health inspection reports very seriously. We appreciate how diligent the Gallatin City-County Health Department is being while also working with us to perfect our food handling procedures.

As the focus of the health department’s ongoing investigation continues to be on the morel mushrooms, we also understand that we are still under tremendous scrutiny by both the health department and our community.

The health department has conducted six (6) inspections since mid April when we contacted the health department after learning that our customers had become ill from what now has been identified by the FDA to be morel mushrooms. We are no longer serving morel mushrooms as a special menu item.

To address observations made by the health department during its six (6), thorough inspections, we continue to work very closely with the department, including submitting and implementing detailed risk control plans, updating our daily operating procedures, and working with our 90+ employees.

We also want to provide some context about our three (3) risk factor/Intervention (RFI) violations observed by the health department on Monday, June 5, 2023, as requested by KBZK.

Cold time/temperature control for safety food not adequately temperature controlled. This observation was related to food items (crab meat and sauce) that were in the midst of being prepared to be served. To address any elevated temperatures, we are using a probe thermometer to take the temperature of our food items every two hours in our food prep areas. We are also keeping a smaller quantity of food (less than 2 cups) in our food prep containers in order for the food to more rapidly return to a cooler temperature after being prepared.

Ready-to-eat time/temperature control for safety food improperly date marked. This observation was related to a wasabi mixture that did not have a date marking on the container. The sticker was present, which notes the day of the week that the mixture was prepared, however the sticker was not filled out with the corresponding date. We have updated our operations procedures to ensure that this isn’t an issue moving forward, having the sticker with the day of the week filled out with the specific date.

Violation: Cross-contamination with raw animal products not adequately prevented in storage, preparation, holding, and display. This observation includes containers of raw fish being prepared that day located above containers of cooked meat and veggies in the same prep cooler. We have corrected this issue and have operationally changed how the items being served that day are stacked in our prep coolers.

We understand the intense scrutiny and appreciate the opportunity to answer any questions about these health inspection reports.

We’ve appreciated the support as we’ve reopened and we’re actively working to gain back the trust of our community. All those impacted by April’s events continue to remain in our hearts.