Nashville, Tennessee’s News Channel 5 reviewed state restaurant inspection results and discovered that some of the dirtiest eateries get written up over and over.
The news team ended up at the Jade Dragon in Clarksville,
one of the worst offenders around when it comes to dirty kitchens; in the last two years, the Jade Dragon has repeatedly failed its surprise inspections, getting scores as low as a 58, 52, even a 47.
The manager told us, "Everything’s clean."
The TV crew poked around and discovered what appeared to be many of the same violations the joint had been cited for previously.
Eventually the manager of the Jade Dragon asked, while the cameras rolled,
"Can we get everything stopped? I don’t want to be on TV at all."
Hugh Atkins with the state Health Department was quoted as saying,
"We don’t allow an unsafe restaurant to remain open," and that if a restaurant is open, it’s safe.
Ronnie Hart with the Tennessee Restaurant Association said,
"The bottom line is fix the problem. You can’t put a band-aid on it. Fix the problem," adding that his group has little patient for repeat offenders and is now pushing for mandatory food safety training.