Gumby’s Pizza, 300 S. Pugh St., has temporarily closed due to three health code violations found in an inspection report filed Friday.
State College Borough health officer Brian O’Donnell conducted an investigation and found three total violations within the store relating to the “gross unsanitary condition of conducting tattooing of a food employee on a dough food prep table during times of operation.”
The report cited the “unsanitary tattooing” on the food prep table may have led to food contamination, as blood could have “sprayed onto food contact surfaces, or the dough mixer.”
The department also cited Gumby’s for allowing the “unsanitary tattooing” of an employee to occur and failing to notify officials of an imminent health hazard.
As a result of the violations, Gumby’s was found to be out of compliance with the state’s health code and temporarily closed as a result. The restaurant was billed $150 for the inspection, and each additional inspection this year will be billed at $200.
Neither Gumby’s nor its corporate office were immediately available for comment on the closure.
Gumby’s is the third State College restaurant to temporarily close in recent weeks because of health code violations. Five Guys, 226 W. College Ave., was found to have a broken water heater on March 4 and an inspection of Playa Bowls, 482 E. Calder Way, on March 10 found of several violations, including improper employee hand-washing techniques and unclean bathrooms and working areas. Both establishments corrected the violations and reopened after passing a second inspection.
