Gumby’s Pizza on Hillsborough Street lost its permit and closed down after the Wake County Health Department conducted a re-inspection Sept. 28.

The department found that Gumby’s had made minor improvements, resulting in an even lower sanitation score than it had earned on its summer inspection — 60.5.

Gumby’s received a score of 70.5 — a ‘C’ — from its June inspection.

Mark Brassington, store manager, had said he was confident Gumby’s would receive an ‘A’ on its next inspection after the June score in a previous interview in the Technician.

According to Frances Breedlove, food sanitation section chief of the Wake County Department of Environmental Services, a score of 70 is the lowest a restaurant can receive to stay open.

“We were required to revoke their permit, and they were closed on the spot at 1:30 a.m.,” Breedlove said.

According to Breedlove, the health inspector found in both inspections that the restaurant was storing its food at improper temperatures, not handling and storing the food properly and not cleaning and sanitizing utensils appropriately were among the major issues that contributed to the failing score.

“Paper towels were not accessible,” Breedlove said. “They had some problems with the garbage cans and dumpsters, and there were problems with the way they were storing utensils to keep them from getting contaminated again after they had been cleaned.”

Some minor issues also existed in the report, including the condition of the building, according to Breedlove.

“The things that cause places to lose the most points for are food temperature, food storing, proper cleaning and sanitizing — the things that could affect somebody being sick,” Breedlove said.

Alexandra Doubrava, a freshman in business management, said she was disgusted after hearing the sanitation ratings.

“The Pokey Sticks were the highlight of my weekends, but knowing they were shut down because of sanitation ratings that low kind of grosses me out that I ate so much of that,” she said. “I am going to miss them even though that’s really gross.”

Breedlove said when a health inspector scores the sanitation of a restaurant, he uses discretion to take full credit or half credit off of the score for particular issues.

When the inspector comes back for re-inspection, he expects some of the issues to be improved, and if they aren’t improved, the restaurant receives whole credit taken off of the score, he said.

This results in even more deductions because it’s a repeat violation, which is what happened to Gumby’s second sanitation score.

According to Breedlove, if a restaurant receives a grade of a ‘B’ or a ‘C,’ it has the right to request a re-inspection. The Health Department is required by law to conduct the re-inspection within 15 days of the restaurant’s request.

“[Gumby’s] decided they were ready for re-inspection, and our person went out within that time frame to re-inspect,” Breedlove said. “They made one or two improvements on a couple of things, but overall the score was actually less.”

Breedlove said Gumby’s is now in a situation where if the manager would like to re-open, he would have to completely start over with plans, but not necessarily a new building.

“They can refurnish what they have,” Breedlove said. “It’s not just a matter of cleaning up, and we’ll open back up. Their permit is gone, so they’ll be completely starting over.”

Erin Summerlin, a sophomore in management, said she will miss Gumby’s Pizza and hopes it makes improvements to re-open.

“I’m sad that I won’t be able to eat Pokey Sticks anymore,” Summerlin said. “But I’m more concerned with my health and safety.”

Summerlin said she is not the only one who will miss eating from Gumby’s Pizza.

“N.C. State students love Gumby’s,” Summerlin said. “It’s definitely going to be missed.”