Trump's Mar-a-Lago kitchen slapped with 13 health violations

By Kevin Conlon, CNN

April 13, 2017

(CNN) President Trump has promised to make America great again. Maybe he should start with the kitchen at Mar-a-Lago.

The President's posh resort in Palm Beach, Florida, was slapped with 13 health violations at its last kitchen inspection in January, including three categorized as "high priority" by Florida's Division of Hotels and Restaurants.

Two of those were related to keeping raw meat -- such as the beef at the heart of Trump's beloved meatloaf -- in walk-in and reach-in coolers that were set above the mandated maximum temperature of 41 degrees.

The results of the January 26 inspection -- the first and only since Trump's inauguration -- were first reported Wednesday by the Miami Herald.

State sanitation and safety laws define high-priority violations as "those which could contribute directly to a foodborne illness or injury and include items such as cooking, reheating, cooling and hand-washing."

Another violation was for serving undercooked seafood that "not undergone proper parasite destruction," the inspector's report said. The inspector ordered the fish to be "fully cooked or discarded."

The members-only resort ultimately passed the inspection following "corrective actions taken on site," the report said.

The inspector said the temperature issue was resolved after the chef called a technician, who discovered the coolers' settings were mistakenly set to defrost.

"We take food safety very seriously and all of the minor adjustments were made immediately," said a spokeswoman for the Mar-a-Lago Club in a statement sent to CNN. "Additionally, the report by the health inspector was updated on the same day to reflect that the Mar-a-Lago Club was in full compliance."

Trump purchased the property in 1985 for $5 million. In January, its initiation fee doubled to $200,000. As of January there were 480 members, and membership is capped at 500.

Since taking office President Trump has spent many weekends at the resort and hosted Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for dinner there in February.

Mar-a-Lago, nicknamed the "Winter White House," has been slapped with a total of 55 citations since 2014, which is as far back as the state's database goes.