Acting on a customer complaint, Kern County health inspectors found an infestation of cockroaches at Rocky’s Pizza and shut down the east Bakersfield restaurant Tuesday, according to a spokeswoman for the county health department.
The closure is the latest in a number of such enforcements by the agency since the high-profile shutdown of the Valley Plaza food court in late April. The recent closures include a fine-dining restaurant, a fast-food facility and a mom-and-pop burger joint that received the lowest score in the history of the health department, a 4 out of a possible 100.
“I would say when something very prominent happens, like with the food court, there’s so much media attention that we’ve been receiving complaints,” said Michelle Corson of the health department. “So the heightened awareness, plus the ease of reporting incidents with our safe-diner app.”
The health inspection report for Rocky’s Pizza, 2858 Niles St., indicates the vermin infestation is “severe” and has potentially contaminated food equipment, contact surfaces, packaging and utensils.
The restaurant’s owners and employees will be required to attend a recently implemented health department program called “Food School” before the facility is reopened. The county has conducted about five such classes, which feature videos of food inspectors in the field and demonstrations. The class is about two hours long, and participants must pass a test at its conclusion.
“We don’t know of any other county that has done this,” Corson said. We’re very proud of it. It’s an extra step the public health department has taken to say, ‘Listen, you have some clear issues and before you even reopen, we need to go through the basics,’ and coach these facilities back to success.”