Jay-Z nightclub 40/40 shut down after 69 health violations

Jay-Z's New York nightclub 40/40 has been shut down just 24 hours after its relaunch for failing a health code inspection.

The venue was ordered to close its doors on Thursday (January 19) after inspectors found a total of 69 violations - including dangerously warm temperatures in a refrigerator, hot food left on a counter and an employee mixing salsa with his bare hands.

A restaurant needs just 28 violations to receive a C grade from the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. As of July 2011, 84% of eateries in the city had an A or B sanitation grade.

"If you have a walk-in place with food like this, you put a hell of a lot of people at risk," a source told the New York Post. "A night of dinner and dancing should not include the risk of contracting food-borne illness."

40/40 was allowed to reopen last night (January 20), with a spokesperson for the club saying there "was no interruption in service or sales".

The results of the inspection will be adjudicated at a hearing next month. The club was taken up on 39 violation points last March before its $10m (£6.4m) renovation.

Its relaunch also served as a celebration of the birth of Blue Ivy, Jay-Z's newborn baby with Beyoncé. Alicia Keys, P Diddy and Alex Rodriguez were among the celebrities at the event.