Lexington doughnut shop closed twice by health department in six weeks. Here’s why
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Health department closed Donut World twice for repeated health code violations.
- Inspections found rodents, insects, food mishandling, plumbing and sanitation failures.
- Owner blamed child behind counter; shop reopened after reinspection with score 96.
A popular local doughnut shop was closed twice in the last month and a half by the Lexington-Fayette County Health Department, but has since reopened.
Donut World at 1395 W. Main St. was closed on Nov. 4 and on Dec. 9 for “unauthorized personnel repeatedly observed in restricted-access portions of the facility,” according to the health department and the owner, Lay Ditth.
Last week, the shop had posted a sign next to the red health department closure notice saying, “Health department closed it down because my kid is next to the register.”
The shop was allowed to reopen after passing inspection on Dec. 13.
According to the health department, there was a child under the age of 12 in the food preparation/storage/service area after repeated warnings that this violated health codes.
Ditth said in an interview with the Herald-Leader that his four-year-old son had come behind the counter to ask for his phone.
“He is next to the register. They told me my kid cannot be in the back so they closed me down,” he said.
What inspectors found
But there were other issues as well that required follow-up inspections: During a regular inspection on Nov. 4 that scored 77, the inspector noted the “person in charge has young child sitting in the kitchen/food preparation area eating on a food preparation surface.”
Additionally, there were employees eating and drinking in food prep area, “old half-eaten pizza slice sitting on sheet pan” and “employee cooking personal rice on food preparation surface.”
There also were “bags of food in cabinet chewed into and covered in rodent droppings and urine,” food not properly date marked, improper sanitizing, “sink clogged and holding water in kitchen,” and “multiple dead flying insects on shelf in kitchen, multiple flying insects, rodent droppings and urine through food storage cabinets and on food, and dirty fly swatter sitting over customer food on storage shelf.”
These issues resulted in the first closure.
During a follow-up inspection on Nov. 7, the inspector noted that the shop had improperly removed the closed sign from the front door, the shop still had plumbing issues and “old rodent droppings along baseboard after cleaning.”
But the shop was allowed to reopen with a score of 96.
Ditth told the Herald-Leader the health inspector came to the shop the first day he had reopened Donut World after it had been closed for two months. Normally, pest control comes monthly, but he had been in Cambodia for two months and had not yet had them in, he said.
At a required 30-day follow-up inspection in December, the shop again was issued an order to cease operation. Owner Ditth applied for re-instatment of Donut World’s license on Dec. 11. He said he was told at a conference with the health department that the issue was his son.
“At the conference they told me the kid cannot be in the back,” he said. Now his son remains in the front of the store, he said.
Donut World reopened on Dec. 13 after scoring 96 on re-inspection.
