Tag Archives: montreal

Pretty safe: How safe are food courts in Montreal?

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With a team of microbiologists from McGill University, CBC Montreal Investigates/Radio-Canada conducted tests for bacteria on tables, trays and garbage bins at four different shopping centres in the Montreal area: Fairview Pointe-Claire, the Eaton Centre, Complexe Desjardins and Champlain Mall.  

eaton.center.montrealThe team found no evidence of bacteria which could cause serious food-borne illnesses such as E.coli, salmonella or listeria.

Nevertheless, lead microbiologist Lawrence Goodridge said he was surprised at the sheer variety of bacteria present.

His team noted some instances of the same bacteria present on both the flaps of garbage bins and trays.

“[It] suggests to me that when the consumers touch the flaps with the trays, this material’s getting on there,” Goodridge said, adding that malls should get rid of bins with flaps on them.

He also said consumers could also help themselves by using disinfectant wipes to clean the tables and trays prior to use. 

CBC shared the test results with an independent expert who took no part in the study — Montreal Children’s Hospital epidemiologist Caroline Quach.

Quach said she could find no risk to public safety.

Cat Café Montréal opens July 2014

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Oh, Quebec. Your hockey team sucks almost as much as Toronto’s, you still yearn for taxpayer-funded independence, and now you have a café for cats.

doug.cats.jun.14Cat Café Mtl, the first of its kind in North America, will be swinging its doors open to cat and coffee lovers alike in July.

Co-creator of Cat Café Mtl Nadine Spencer says the goal is to create an entirely new venue in Montreal combining coffee and cat-owner culture in one space.

One major criticism for cat cafes is the sanitation issue, as no one really wants a bunch of hair in their latte, or Meowchiato (yes this will be a beverage name), but CCM is making sure it won’t be an issue. To ensure all sanitation regulations are met, no food will be prepared on site, and cats will be separated from any food-holding areas in the cafe, only having access to their own eats. Pastries and sweet treats will be served, just without any fur.

A Montreal cafe that won’t let you poop

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This past weekend Sprudge.com editors Zachary Carlsen and Jordan Michelman traveled to Montreal, Quebec as speakers at the first Barista Nation event of 2014. And discovered a cafe policy so shocking, so out of the ordinary that it demands sharing with the wider world. Because there in Montreal, Michelman and Carlsen stumbled upon a cafe with a very strict ordinance.

A cafe that won’t let its patrons poop.

“Numero Un Seulement”, reads the sign on the door at Cafe Aux Marron, a small, intimate shop serving a variety of Canadian and American roasters, no.poop.cafelocated on a snowy sidestreet just a few rue from the McGill University campus in downtown Montreal.

Roughly translated, the sign means “Number #1 Only”, a slang colloquialism that Marron likely picked up from its American transplant clientele. The bathroom itself is a one door petite unisex affair, located directly adjacent to the cafe’s small seating area and coffee bar.

The reasoning behind the policy? “Logique“, says Marque Montpellier, the propriétaire at Marron, who would not allow himself to be photographed for this article. He went on to explain in French (and translated by Amy):

We sample coffee every day in this café. The clients’ odors are a serious problem. No perfume, no cologne, and no bowel movements are allowed in this café. It’s a strict policy. We are professional coffee tasters; we have to restrict all unpleasant odors in the café. Thank you for respecting this policy.

And what about his staff? Banning a normal, healthy bodily function must be an unpleasant policy for baristas working 8 hour shifts. “Notre personnel ne défèquent pas” Montpellier told Sprudge, which translated roughly means “our staff does not poop.”

Personnel retention is a challenge, concedes Montpellier, but it’s worth it in the name of pursuing his vision for Cafe Aux Marron. “Nous souffrons du café,” Montpellier said, evoking the wider sense of suffering for quality familiar to all service professionals.

Montpellier, who was unwilling to give a statement to Sprudge in English, closed our interview by declaring “Sans numero deux, notre politique nous libere completement.” In the name of fair reporting, we later heard him flirting in perfect English with a young American McGill student.

Montreal sucks at restaurant inspection disclosure so others fill in

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Roberto Rocha blogs in the Montreal Gazette that the open data movement and the great apps that citizens create around it depends on government inaction. In essence, citizens are providing products and services that authorities, depending on your political view, probably should.

An example of this is RestoNet.ca, a child of Montreal’s open data knights.

Compare its straightforward, easy-to-use map with its data source, the City of Montreal’s website that lists restaurant hygiene infractions.

Granted, the city may not have the resources or the know-how to make all its services Web 2.0-compliant. And it’s a positive affirmation of community spirit that citizens are taking action, voluntarily, to make tools that help other citizens. If anything, it’s a sign of a healthy society.

Toronto’s DineSafe website makes public all restaurant inspection reports, and it’s updated daily. It also gives each establishment a color code: green for pass, yellow for conditional pass, and red for closed. This offers an easy-to-understand visual cue. Since it was implemented in 2001, the compliance rate among restauranteurs has jumped from less than 50% to 92%, according to program head Sylvano Thompson. That means fewer follow-up inspections and better use of resources.

Vancouver Coastal Health inspects restaurants and publishes the three most recent reports, though they don’t grade restaurants in any way. However, posting repeat inspection reports does offer an incentive for compliance.

Ottawa’s EatSafe database is much like Vancouver’s: it lists the results of past inspections, whether pass or fail, although it’s not as detailed.

Montreal only posts establishments that have been fined, and the latest reports are form October 2011, even though city spokespeople say it’s supposed to be refreshed monthly.

It’s the ministère de l’Agriculture, des Pêcheries et de l’Alimentation du Québec (MAPAQ) that makes the rules regarding restaurant inspections. The city doesn’t have the power to give hygiene grades or force restaurants to display inspections reports.

And the province has been resistant to change since it took over inspection duties in 2002. A March 15, 2004 article in The Gazette comparing Toronto to Montreal said:

Unless there’s significant public pressure, it’s unlikely the system will make its way to Quebec in the near future, said Daniel Tremblay, a food-inspection spokesperson for the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.

“There have been groups that have pushed for that in the past,” at parliamentary hearings into food inspection, Tremblay said, but at the moment, no change is expected.

Blame it on Quebec’s Secret Society.