Ramapo, NY - Rockland Health Board Assesses Fines On Kosher Caterer

Ramapo, NY - The Rockland County Board of Health voted to double the recommended fine from $2,650. to $5,300, against the caterer in a New City synagogue because the owners repeatedly failed to correct health-code violations. "They just don't get it," John Stoughton, director of the food safety program for the county Health Department, told the board at its regular monthly meeting.

Fifth Avenue Glatt Kosher Caterers, which operates a catering facility in the New City Jewish Center, was cited for 20 sanitary-code violations during six inspections from March 2005 to March 2006, according to department records.

Inspectors repeatedly found numerous mouse droppings in the kitchen, water leaking from the roof onto food stored in a walk-in refrigerator, and dirt and mold on equipment, according to records.

Stoughton said inspectors visited the facility again May 11 and found the violations had not been corrected. The owner also was cited for additional violations. He said that he had met with the owner of Fifth Avenue Glatt Kosher Caterers, to tell him what he needed to do to bring the facility into compliance.