PERRYSBURG — The owner of a restaurant that has been shut down for 14 days due to health department violations is vowing to reopen.

Yum Yummy, on Fremont Pike, serves traditional Chinese food, including sweet and sour chicken and pot stickers.

The owner, Liping Gao “Ping,” said she’s committed to healthy cooking, using fresh and organic vegetables, and she doesn’t deep fry or use a bread coating.

Ping said she has no employees — it’s just herself cooking and serving customers.

“I follow the law,” she said in an interview at Yum Yummy earlier this week. “I’m not perfect, nobody’s perfect. … My food very safe.”

Ping said that she has had some issues. One is a trash can on the side of the Yum Yummy that she said is used by another restaurant. Some grease in the corner of the restaurant has been cleaned up, she said.

The restaurant’s walls were just repainted, and she has bought some new parts for a cooler. A ventilation hood has been repaired.

Her limited English has been a challenge for communicating with the health department, Ping said.

Ping, who did not want to be photographed for this story, is a petite, fit woman, who wears her gray hair in a short style. She said she’s nearing 70, but has no plans to retire.

She’s passionate about her restaurant and her customers, and strongly believes she will be able to reopen Yum Yummy.

Ping said she appreciates the support of her customers — one tried to come in to eat during this interview. She said that some have called local state legislators, asking them to support Ping.

“Customers love me. Everybody come here and give me a hug,” she said.

Yum Yummy opened in 2011.

The licenses of Yum Yummy, 10677 Fremont Pike, and Nedley’s Ice Cream and Coffee Cafe, 200 E. South Boundary St., were suspended by the board of health last week.

In an email, Jen Campos, community outreach coordinator with the Wood County Health Department, said that Yum Yummy will complete the 14-day suspension on April 30. A required inspection to reopen may be arranged with staff no sooner than May 1.

“The conditions that must be met at the inspection in order to reopen are that there are no critical violations and that all previously noted violations are corrected. They must also have no more than four non-critical violations. The facility may reopen immediately when the conditions of the opening inspection are met,” Campos said.

Critical violations are always the violations of greatest concern as they can create environments that cause bacteria to grow and thrive, which puts the consumer at risk for foodborne illness, she said.

Non-critical violations are not directly related to the cause of foodborne illness, but if uncorrected, could impede the operation of the restaurant. Examples of non-critical violations include a lack of facility cleanliness and maintenance or improper cleaning of equipment and utensils. Repetitive and numerous critical and non-critical are of great concern, Campos said.

At last week’s board meeting, Lana Glore, environmental health director, said that Yum Yummy has a history dating back to 2019. The health department set up a meeting with the restaurant staff in October and went over some things to get compliant, Glore said.

There were more violations in January, followed by an administrative hearing on March 6, she said.

Board President Tom Milbrodt said that these decisions aren’t made lightly

“It is important to note that it is a lengthy process … and the final step is this administrative hearing,” he said.

Nedley’s license will be suspended for seven days, then undergo a re-inspection.

In January, both businesses had several violations during inspections.

Yum Yummy had four critical and six non-critical violations.

Critical were food not properly protected from contamination by separation, packaging, and segregation; food equipment surfaces not cleaned at required frequency; equipment food-contact surfaces or utensils are unclean; and temperature-controlled food foods not being cold held at the proper temperature.

Non-critical were working food containers not properly labeled; outer opening not protected; linens used inappropriately; improper use and/or maintenance of wiping cloths; re-use of single-service or single-use articles; and unnecessary or nonfunctional items and/or litter on premises.

Nedley’s had five critical and nine non-critical violations.

Critical were person in charge was unable to demonstrate knowledge of cleaning and sanitizing; employees are not informed in a verifiable manner of their responsibility to report information about their health (repeat); utensils and food-contact surfaces of equipment not sanitized at the required frequency (repeat); equipment food-contact surfaces or utensils are unclean (repeat); and refrigerated, ready-to-eat, temperature-controlled food foods not properly date marked (repeat, corrected during inspection)

Non-critical were hot and cold holding equipment thermometer was missing, located incorrectly, or not easily readable; food employee(s) not wearing a hair restraint; food employees wearing jewelry on arms or hands during food preparation; improper use and/or maintenance of wiping cloths (repeat); in-use utensils improperly stored (repeat); equipment not approved by a recognized testing agency (repeat); non-food contact surfaces not easily cleanable; non-food contact surfaces of equipment are unclean (repeat); and food service operation did not have a person in charge per shift with the person in charge certification in food protection.

Health inspections

Wood County Health Department inspections are online every Monday at sent-trib.com.