The food vendors at Pittsburgh International Airport — once a hotbed of food safety violations — have been cleaning up.

A review by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette of inspection reports for 28 restaurants at the airport found that together they piled up 82 critical violations over the past two years. They also accumulated 156 lesser infractions.

While far from perfect, the results were much improved from the 270 critical and 230 non-critical violations found over two years at 19 food vendors when the newspaper checked four years ago.

That worked out to an average of 14 critical violations per restaurant back then vs. an average of three per restaurant in the latest review. Critical violations are the most serious types of problems that put people at the most risk for getting sick.

Officials at the Allegheny County Health Department believe that one reason why restaurants at the airport might be doing better is because the department has been more willing in recent years to crack down on violators.

“We would like to think our food safety program is much more efficient now,” deputy director Jim Kelly said.

The department has been assessing more fines and posting more consumer alerts against repeat offenders countywide instead of allowing some violations to go uncorrected, he said. As a result, Mr. Kelly suspects operators are paying closer attention to the rules.

He said another factor in the improvement may have been publicity four years ago surrounding both the newspaper’s review of inspection reports and an analysis by the Airport Group that found restaurants at the Pittsburgh terminal were considerably dirtier than at similarly-sized airports nationwide. The policy group, based in New York City, has not done a follow-up study.

“Maybe there was some awareness that they needed to do better,” said Mr. Kelly.

While the latest analysis showed airport eateries were performing better on their inspections, there still was room for improvement.

Villa Italian Kitchen — a quick-service restaurant specializing in pizza, pasta and salads located in the main area of the airside terminal known as the center core — was hit with the most critical violations over the two-year period. It received 13.

Some of the problems included holding food at unsafe temperatures, employees handling cooked pasta and peppers with their bare hands, and lack of a worker on duty who was certified in safe food handling practices, which has been a county requirement since 1993.

The restaurant also accumulated the most non-critical violations, 14, for less serious problems such as using paper cups for portioning flour instead of a scoop with a handle, and leaving a purse on a prep table used to make pizza dough.

The operator of the facility could not be reached for comment.

Allegheny County records show that Villa Italian Kitchen was inspected five times over the past two years. Restaurants in the county generally are inspected once per year, but inspectors may visit more often if problems persist.

Two Subway locations — situated in concourses A and B — tied for the second highest number of serious violations at five. Problems included a blocked handwashing sink, holding food at unsafe temperatures, and lack of a food safety manager.

The owner of the facilities, Mike Patel, noted that the issues had been fixed. He said his leases had expired and he expected to close both locations next month.

“They don’t want Subway at the airport anymore,” he said.

In the past four years, turnover among food vendors at the airport has been considerable. Among the 19 outlets reviewed in 2013, 11 are no longer there — including names like Charley’s Steakery, Quiznos subs, Nature’s Kitchen and Sbarro.

A McDonald’s outlet located in the center core stood out for having the most violations in the newspaper’s analysis four years ago, with 32 critical and 41 non-critical infractions tallied during nine inspections over a two-year period.

The fast-food icon is still in the same location, but recently changed ownership. Only one inspection report is on file under new management, which shows four critical and zero non-critical violations.

Inspection reports for food facilities in the county are available online at www.achd.net.

Patricia Sabatini: PSabatini@post-gazette.com; 412-263-3066.

First Published: September 18, 2017, 10:30 a.m.
Updated: September 18, 2017, 10:50 a.m.