PICKAWAY COUNTY, Ohio — A Pickaway County diner cited last month for storing raw chicken alongside ready-to-eat food and operating with a dirty can opener has accumulated critical health violations in nearly every inspection since it opened nearly a decade ago, state records show.
Crosstown Creamery & Diner at 90 W. Main St. in Tarlton received three critical violations and five non-critical violations during a February 24 state health inspection — the latest in a long pattern of food safety concerns documented by health inspectors dating back to the facility’s opening in 2016.
A Decade of Violations
A review of the facility’s full inspection history reveals critical violations in 13 of the last 15 standard inspections.
Since 2017, inspectors have found critical violations at nearly every visit:
- January 2019: 4 critical violations
- January 2024: 4 critical violations
- July 2023: 3 critical violations
- January 2023: 3 critical violations
- February 2026: 3 critical violations
- July 2021: A complaint inspection was triggered, though no violations were found during that visit
The only clean standard inspection on record came in July 2022, when inspectors found zero critical violations.
What Inspectors Found Last Month
During the February 24 inspection, raw chicken was observed stored on the same shelf as ready-to-eat jalapeños and tartar sauce — a cross-contamination risk corrected on the spot. A knife was found stored inside a handwashing sink. A can opener blade had dark dried liquid on its food-contact surface — a repeat critical violation.
Two of the three critical violations were flagged as repeat offenses. The facility also lacked a certified food protection manager on duty — itself a repeat violation — and was found thawing frozen fish on the counter rather than using an approved method.
Inspectors additionally noted a gap at the bottom of the back door large enough to allow pest entry, and cutting boards described as heavily scored in need of resurfacing or replacement.
All critical violations were corrected during the inspection. The facility was not ordered closed.
The Pattern
What the inspection history makes clear is that corrections made during individual visits have not translated into sustained compliance. The same categories of violations — food storage, equipment cleanliness, and manager certification — appear repeatedly across years of inspections, suggesting systemic issues rather than isolated oversights.
Ohio requires Risk Level IV facilities to be inspected twice per year precisely because of the elevated risk they pose to public health.
Each inspection report can be viewed by visiting the Pickaway County Health Department website: Pickaway County Health Department