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Which UWS Grocery Store Had "Two Old Decayed, Rat Carcasses" On Its Loading Dock?
By
Aaron Marks
Published Mar 27, 2013
Modified Apr 2, 2013
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By
Aaron Marks
Published Mar 27, 2013
Modified Apr 2, 2013
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Turns out the Fairway isn't the only grocery store that UWS rodents call home. New data shows that on December 6th, the 97th Street Whole Foods was cited by a government inspector for, among other things, "Two old, decayed rat carcasses present on the floor along the walls in the loading dock area." But hey, maybe we've found the key to eviscerating the city's booming rat population: HEALTH FOOD.
While restaurant inspection data is publicly available from the DOH, the dirt on grocery stores, collected by the Department of Agriculture and Markets, is a little harder to dig up. The blog network network of hyperlocal news & information sites Patch put together the map below, which shows inspection results from grocery stores across the city. How does your local grocer fare?
Other notorious rodent hangouts fared better than Whole Foods. Fairway Market, which first drew our attention to the UWS rodent-grocery love affair last year, was found with only "5-10 mouse droppings .. on staircase leading to second floor." And Eli Zabar's E.A.T. was shut down in December after a storefront rat made the news, but it was only cited by this inspector for "7 - 10 dried and old appearing mouse droppings … on a ledge in a corner of the dry storage area in the basement." Sources say Eli Zabar could be heard shouting from atop an olive barrel, "You hear that Whole Foods! Only seven to ten mouse droppings! Only seven to ten!"
None of the supermarkets were closed for these citations; the reports only note that "These problems should be corrected by the inspector's next visit." And if these grocers don't get around to cleaning up their rodent issues by then, they can always remind the inspectors that rats are food too. [Via West Side Rag]
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Aaron Marks
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