Time Out!
A Dumbo food hall named after Time Out magazine closed its doors on July 10, after the city’s Health Department discovered that the market’s fridge was too warm.
Inspectors found the market’s massive walk-in fridge was operating at a balmy 58 degrees — a hazardous 17 degrees over the 41-degree threshold set by the federal Food and Drug Administration to prevent dangerous bacteria from growing on meat and fish which could induce vomiting and diarrhea, according to the city’s Health Department.
“The NYC Health Department conducts food safety inspections to protect the health of New Yorkers, and when we inspected the Time Out Market’s refrigerator we found food at temperatures that could be potentially hazardous,” Michael Lanza said in an emailed statement.
The market’s operator also failed to produce a refrigeration log recording the cooler’s daily minimum and maximum temperatures, suggesting operators were ignorant to the dangers brewing in their own fridge, according to Lanza.
Inspectors ordered the fridge taken offline, which by extension necessitated the closure of 14 vendors that shared space in the cooler, and the entire food hall — which hosts 21 of Time Out magazine’s top-rated bars and eateries — subsequently closed as a result.
The food-hall’s clement fridge wasn’t the only source of violations for the food-hall vendors, including BKLYN Wild, which was cited for a laundry list of health infractions — including inadequate hand-washing facilities, failure to provide a Food Protection Certificate, and failing to properly monitor the temperature of foods during cooking — which earned that eater 102 points worth of health-code violations, or 74 points more than the city require to shutdown a business, Patch reported.
The British media company opened the market on May 31 inside an old industrial building between Dock and Main streets with a scenic rooftop terrace offering views of Brooklyn and the distant Isle of Manhattan.
The market’s operators are currently working with the Health Department to reopen the magazine-sponsored food hall as quickly as possible, according to a spokeswoman.
“Due to issues with our main refrigeration unit, Time Out Market New York will remain closed over the coming days to ensure the matter has been fully resolved,” Sasha Lampert said in an emailed statement. “As the operator of the market, we are committed to fixing these issues that have unfortunately impacted our vendors. As always, our vendors and our guests remain the top priority as we work tirelessly to welcome everyone back to the market soon.”
