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Whole Foods Apologizes for Service Elevator Meat-gate
By
John Del Signore
Published Oct 18, 2010
Modified Oct 18, 2010
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By
John Del Signore
Published Oct 18, 2010
Modified Oct 18, 2010
Share
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Over the weekend, a tipster sent us this photo taken in a service elevator at the Union Square Whole Foods, where "cooked, prepared turkey breasts were being carted upstairs along side filthy garbage cans and employees with dirty dustbins." The world was shocked and appalled, and Whole Foods has issued this statement in an attempt to put the incident behind them:
We are aware of the incident highlighted in the story from this past weekend, and would like to assure you and your readers that the store Team Members are continuously trained in our strict sanitation, food handling and safety procedures. Whole Foods Market is dedicated to stringent quality controls for the products we sell and the stores we operate.
All our stores use independent, third-party inspectors who perform regular, unannounced audits to assess food handling and safety procedures in each department of every store. Most recently on October 5th, our Union Square store was audited and scored highly for its food safety practices**. We apologize for the practices being exemplified, as they most certainly are not representative of the high level of attention we give to the quality of our food.**
On the company's Twitter page, they also say that "team member safety retraining is underway." So to impassioned Gothamist commenter JesusOurLord—who wrote, "What a piece of shit ignorant person and an irresponsible 'news outlet.' You have NO IDEA if they were throwing that chicken out or putting it out."—we say, You're Welcome!
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John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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