Health board shuts HoMei Seafood in Framingham

The Board of Health shut down HoMei Seafood Restaurant on Concord Street yesterdayafter discovering it was serving possibly sick, illegally caught cod. The closing came after HoMei ignored a cease-and-desist order the board issued last week to stop slaughtering and serving the cod, lobster and other fish it keeps inside a large tank, Public Health Director Ethan Mascoop said. Inspectors issued the order after a customer complained about seeing a dead fish floating in the tank, Mascoop said. “They actually use those live fish for food,” Mascoop said. It appears the cod, which are from an unapproved source, are sick and undersized, which makes it illegally caught under Department of Fish and Game regulations, Mascoop said. “It’s not a violation of the code to have this kind of a setup,” Mascoop said. However, the restaurant didn’t have a variance from the town to slaughter and serve fish. “I wasn’t aware we need a license,” HoMei assistant manager Onkili Li said yesterday. He said customers like to pick their own fresh fish from the tank for the chefs to cook, and he didn’t realize it was a problem. The fish may look lethargic, he said, because the restaurant doesn’t feed them. “I never get sick myself,” Li said. A photo inspectors took shows a sickly looking cod with bulging white eyes swimming in a tank with another codfish. Restaurant owner Fay Mah and his family violated the cease-and-desist order by catching that second healthier looking one and preparing it for themselves, Mascoop said. As proof, they gave the Board of Health a photo of the family eating its meal. “They’re actually using the food establishment to prepare that meal,” Mascoop said. Mascoop said the “very egregious” problem with the cod is one of seven “critical” code violations inspectors found at the 509 Concord St. restaurant. “Filthy” work surfaces and inadequate sanitizing are two of the issues, inspectors said. “The manager and the owner are fully aware, and the establishment is closed until further notice,” Mascoop said. “They can obviously appeal for a hearing before the board.” Li said HoMei has fixed 90 percent of the problems and is hiring a food safety consultant to help with the rest. The health board closed the restaurant twice in 2010 when Mah ran it as Han Dynasty. Inspector Felix Zemel found five pages worth of code violations, including six critical problems, when he first inspected HoMei on Thursday. He found another two pages worth of problems, including another critical violation, when he went back Sunday afternoon.