From the cross-contamination bad idea files: RI orders Asian supermarket in Providence to stop selling live frogs, turtles

Madeleine List of the Providence Journal reports Department of Public Health inspectors have ordered the owners of a supermarket on Cadillac Drive to cease the sale of live animals in their store.

Health inspectors responded to a complaint about the Good Fortune Supermarket on Tuesday and found 45 frogs and seven turtles for sale at the establishment, said Joseph Wendelken, spokesman for the Rhode Island Department of Health.

“It’s against Rhode Island food code for there to be live animals in a food establishment,” he said.

The department ordered the owners to stop selling the animals and put up signs at the store to notify the public that the critters were not for sale, Wendelken said.

Health officials will coordinate with the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management to determine what to do with the animals, he said. For now, they are still at the store.

Good Fortune, which is described on its website as one of the largest Asian supermarkets in the United States, opened in Providence about two weeks ago, Wendelken said. The market has more than a dozen locations across the U.S., according to its website.

Health officials inspected the establishment before it opened and found no violations, Wendelken said.

“There was no indication at that point that frogs and turtles were going to be sold,” he said.