Tag Archives: Rats

1,000 rat feces close Chicago restaurant

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Chicago repeat restaurant inspection violator, Bar Louie at 741 W. Randolph, was shut down Thursday and remains closed today after Chicago Department of Public Health inspectors discovered over 1,000 rat feces in a basement storage area.

Additionally, the restaurant was cited for front and rear doors with gaps that allow access to rodents and insects, fruit flies in the kitchen, a poorly maintained outside garbage area (with trash overflowing onto the ground), no sanitizing solution in the automatic dishwashing machine, and no hot water at sinks through the establishment.

CDPH Commissioner Terry Mason, M.D., said,

“We take food safety seriously, and these are the types of unacceptable violations that leave the door wide open for food borne illness. Bar Louie will not be allowed to re-open until it has taken corrective action and passed re-inspection.”

The enforcement action was the 203rd time in 2008 that Health Department inspectors have shut a food establishment for violations of the Chicago Health Code.

Representatives of Bar Louie will have to explain themselves at an administrative hearing on November 6 and pay a fine expected to total $2,000.

Bar Louie has 11 locations in the Chicago area, six in the city itself. Three of the city locations have been shut down this year for health violations. The Hyde Park location was shut down on October 1 by the Mayor’s Dumpster Task Force, and the Taylor Street location was shut down by CDPH on August 28.

From Toronto to Taiwan, rats in restaurants a problem

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Chinese-language media was cited as reporting yesterday that a diner was seriously upset when he saw a rat scurrying about one of Taipei 101’s stylish Japanese restaurants.

The man, surnamed Chai, was cited as saying that he and his foreign guest hadn’t finished dinning yet on Feb. 2, when a small rat scrambled quickly from the shopping mall into Minhan 101, and then towards the kitchen, adding,

"That was disgusting. The Taipei 101 is a national landmark visited by numerous foreigners."

Wang Yen-chi, spokesperson for Taipei 101, said that rat-eradication campaigns on the fourth floor will be increased, up from two disinfections per moths.

Toronto Chinatown restaurant reopens

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Doug posted the initial story about this eatery last week.  The Toronto Star is reporting today that the "Rat-plagued" Dumpling House at 328 Spadina Ave. is now open again.

The Star reports that the restaurant was closed over the long weekend and management was told it would have to comply with health regulations, including disinfecting the premises and contacting a pest-control operator.

Michael Chu, the manager of the Dumpling House was cited as saying he wanted to deal with the vermin problem, adding,"If the city didn’t shut us down, I would have closed." 

The staff reportedly spent the weekend "bleaching" tables, counters, containers and utensils. Chu hired a pest control operator to set traps.
The best part (and not really surprising) of the story to me is this:

While the incident will cost Chu around $10,000 in cleanup and closing costs, he says he’s not concerned. Even with a sign outside alerting people to the infestation, he had to turn people away. "I have gotten calls of support all day. It’s touching. I just want to cry."

Wonder how much of an effect posting restaurant grades/advisories really has on consumer preferences (especially if it is your favourite spot).

Toronto Chinatown restaurant closed after rat photos surface

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The National Post reported Friday that Toronto public health authorities shut down one of Chinatown’s most prominent restaurants after a passerby took a photo of rats on a countertop.

Passerby Vivian Hui said rats were visible through a window of the Dumpling House Restaurant yesterday afternoon, adding,

"I noticed what I thought was a cat on the counter inside Dumpling House but it turned out to be four or five rats piled on top of each other eating from a bowl of flour or something."

She e-mailed her boyfriend, Matt Alexander, who alerted health authorities. He also sent the photo to blogto.com, a popular Toronto city blog.

Toronto Public Health said inspectors went to the restaurant immediately, saw evidence of an infestation, and shut the restaurant down.

A manager who answered the phone at the restaurant said they agreed with health inspectors that the restaurant needed to be shut down, adding,

"I fully agree. If there’s a problem, some indication, we have to take it seriously. We have pest control guys working on the case right now. … ‘We have a very good reputation.  That’s why we are taking this very seriously. I think [this shutdown] may affect business for a very short time, but not very much because our cleaning conditions are good."

The manager said he had never seen rats himself in the restaurant, and said any rat problem is not confined to Dumpling House. He said downtown has a rat problem generally, and the city needs to do something about it. Same as New York.

Should cats be allowed to control rats in N.Y. deli’s?

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Across New York City, the owners of delis and bodegas say, in this morning’s N.Y. Times, they cannot do without their cats, tireless and enthusiastic hunters of unwanted vermin, that typically do a far better job than exterminators and poisons.

Urszula Jawor, 49, the manager of a corner store in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, said of her cat that,

“In the morning she is lazy, it is her nap time. But in the afternoon she is busy. She spends hours stalking the mice and the rats.”

The story says that to store owners, the services of cats are indispensable in a city where the rodent problem is serious enough to be documented in a still popular two-minute video clip on YouTube from late February (youtube.com/watch?v=su0U37w2tws) of rats running amok in a KFC/Taco Bell in Greenwich Village.

Store-dwelling cats are so common that there is a Web site, workingclasscats.com, dedicated to telling their tales.

But, the story notes that the city’s health code and state law forbid animals in places where food or beverages are sold for human consumption. Fines range from $300 for a first offense to $2,000 or higher for subsequent offenses.

Robert M. Corrigan, a rodentologist and research scientist for the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, said,

"Any animal around food presents a food contamination threat. And so that means anything from animal pieces and parts to hair and excrement could end up in food, and that alone, of course, is a violation of the health code."

Mr. Corrigan was cited as conceding that some studies have shown that the smell of cats in an enclosed area will keep mice away, but he does not endorse cats as a form of pest control because, he explained, the bacteria, viruses, fungi, parasites and nematodes carried by rats may infect humans by secondary transfer through a cat.

Still, many store owners keep cats despite the law, mainly because other options have failed and the fine for rodent feces is also $300.

José Fernández, the president of the Bodega Association of the United States, said,

"It’s hard for bodega owners because they’re not supposed to have a cat, but they’re also not supposed to have rats."

Vermin violations

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Restaurants and food venues at the California Angels baseball stadium have been cited by county health officials 118 times in the last 2 1⁄2 years for "vermin violations."

The Orange County Register reports,

"On 33 occasions, health inspectors spotted rodents crawling through Angel Stadium restaurants or found rat droppings in food-handling areas such as kitchen countertops or meat cutting boards. The number of violations is significantly higher than those found at other stadiums such as Dodger Stadium or San Diego’s Petco Park.

"A stadium practice of leaving food on the ground for up to 12 hours after a game may contribute to the problem, experts say."

In response, Garry Anderson of Anaheim Hills wrote to say,

"Why are the mom and pop stores having their licenses suspended until the problems are resolved, while Angel Stadium concessions remain open after repeated warnings to correct the problem? The concessions feed the rats and ignore inspectors; they should be treated the same as the mom and pop stores – shut down until the problems are resolved."

Good point. Over to you, local health unit.