BBA Deli Market’s food service permit revoked in wake of health code violations
Published: 10-03-2024 4:46 PM |
SOUTH DEERFIELD — The BBA Deli Market on Thayer Street will remain closed following numerous health code violations, as the store’s owner and the Deerfield Board of Health work to remediate the issues.
The longtime Polish deli, located at 39A Thayer St., was closed on Sept. 27 after an inspection by Health Agent Valerie Bird turned up what she described as “horrendous sanitation conditions.”
Violations include chicken left in the temperature “danger zone,” dirty coolers, open containers in the cooler, a visibly moldy pepper, cracked glass on the deli case, a dirty microwave and an out-of-date deli meat log book, according to a letter written by Bird, which was addressed to owner Alex Gjekaj. Additionally, Bird said she stopped by the deli on Wednesday and while it was closed, the Board of Health notices had been taken down.
Due to repeated health code violations, Bird revoked the deli’s food service permit and Gjekaj must go through a public hearing process to get another one. He and his business partner attended a hearing at Wednesday’s Deerfield Selectboard meeting to address the violations.
“I closed the place, I believe, in June or July due to sanitation reasons and the proprietor did clean it up,” Bird told the Selectboard, which also serves as the Board of Health. “I was going back once a week or every two weeks. … I hadn’t been back in two weeks and the place was bad.”
Gjekaj said his business partner had to step away from the deli over the last year to deal with personal and mental health matters, leaving him to manage the establishment by himself, adding that there were no problems when both of them were working.
“I did everything in my power to run that place as best as I could,” Gjekaj said. “We spent the last five hours in the deli cleaning it up today.”
Selectboard Chair Tim Hilchey said he was sorry to hear about the business’ struggles, but it is a deli and there has to be “enough staff to do the work that needs to be done to keep people safe when they’re buying food.”
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“We would like to work with you,” Hilchey said. “BBA has been a longtime part of the community.”
While Wednesday’s discussion covered the violations and Gjekaj vowed to correct the issues, he had to officially request another public hearing to receive a new food service permit because the town revoked his current permit. That hearing has been set for 3 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 7.
“We will try to arrange a hearing on Monday, post it properly and then we’ll proceed from there,” Hilchey said. “Sorry this has happened.”
Chris Larabee can be reached at clarabee@recorder.com.