A kitchen at the UCSD Medical Center in Hillcrest is now cockroach-free after staff worked to clean up numerous live cockroaches found throughout the facility during an inspection in August 2014.
According to the food safety inspection report, “live multi staged cockroaches were noted in the food production line, in the cooking equipment at the cooking line, along the walls of the cook’s line and in the side production areas of the main kitchen.”
The report adds there were signs of pest control services, but little to no effect was found.
Jacqueline Carr, spokesperson for the UCSD Medical Center, told NBC 7 Friday that as soon as the inspector saw the cockroaches in the kitchen, hospital staff jumped into action.
"The staff in Hillcrest fully cooperated with the inspector and jointly developed a corrective action plan," said Carr in a statement. "The response included bringing in a specialized pest control company the same day to treat teir kitchen."
The statement goes on to say small construction holes in exterior walls allowed the outdoors inside during a renovation project. And according to Carr, those were linked to the cockroach issue.
The construction is now complete but Carr added that at no time did the kitchen close because of the cockroach issue.
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One month after the cockroaches were found, a follow up inspection noted the kitchen was “greatly improved” but cockroaches were still noted.
In the report the inspector wrote, “After a thorough inspection by me, only a few live cockroaches were found. The infestation has thus been abated.”
In the most recent inspection in March, the report showed no cockroaches, and Carr said the kitchen remains cockroach-free.
