Kensington Businesses Face Ongoing Listeria Concerns

When I looked up J & J Fruit Market at DineSafe to see their inspection details, it indicated that they were having "crucial" problems with keeping proper food temperature, food contamination, and sufficient hand-washing. Mmm!

I also looked up Cheese Magic, and it looks like they had similar problems as well::

http://app.toronto.ca/food2/index.jsp

J&J Fruit Market has always been sketch. Anyone who shops regularly in Kensington doesn't buy from there.

Yes, Elle they definitely acknowledged that there had been problems and that they were immediately compliant. Thanks for the link to the index!

Tim, I disagree, J&J is always busy with people purchasing stuff there all the time. While I tend to go to the other side of the street, they were not hurting for business.

"Health inspectors also claim they found cat and mouse droppings in a food area of the store, mould growth inside a walk-in cooler, and products stored at incorrect temperatures."

You'll have to excuse me if I don't sound sympathetic to the owners. There's no excuse for that. Mice are one thing, cat droppings are something of a completely different level.

I agree there's no excuse for less than sanitary conditions in any establishment that serves/handles food, but you'd be surprised (and maybe disgusted?) at how prevalent mouse/cat feces can be in a city!

Again, I'm not excusing it; just saying that many businesses have these ongoing problems, regardless of their efforts at compliance. This is why the whole Pass system was put in place, to allow for ongoing monitoring and measurement of these problems.

@Ryan L: Where does your "cat droppings" quote come from? (It's not from the city food inspection database or the CP24 article.)

The health regulations seem to be inconsistently applied. Look at J&J. On 28-Apr-2008 they got dinged with "Operator fail to provide separate handwashing sink(s)". A few days later on 2-May-2008, they get a full pass. On 12-Aug-2008, they get the book thrown at them including the same notice about the missing sink.

Seem like if you catch the inspector on a bad day, or there is media attention, they find more infractions. We need more objectivity.

" frustrated that they have reported only the negative side, without any mention of the J&J Fruit Market closure. "
..^^^ so the closure of J&J is positive news then ?!?
Misery loves company I guess !

@ Danielle - I'm not saying people don't shop there. Unfortunately, some of the worst fruit and veggie places in Kensington are sometimes the busiest because of their prime location. But from my experience the only good ones are Oxford Fruit and the Kensington Fruit Market at the NE corner of Kensington and St. Andrew

I really don't feel to sorry for a store owner and staff that allowed thier store to get to the point where there is "Gross unsanitary conditions"

"The health regulations seem to be inconsistently applied. Look at J&J. On 28-Apr-2008 they got dinged with "Operator fail to provide separate handwashing sink(s)". A few days later on 2-May-2008, they get a full pass. On 12-Aug-2008, they get the book thrown at them including the same notice about the missing sink."

They received a pass to open because they promised to install the sink within a period of time. They didn't live up to their agreement. So, when next inspected, they were shut down.

That's an absolute, not an objective application of the laws.

The City of Toronto inspections are a bit sketchy. I mean, they issue a warning (yellow sign) but will revisit the establishment shortly so - guess what - the owners clean up and act all nice for the next few days and voila: green sign! I witnessed this cat and mouse (forgive the pun) chase with an eatery near my work: for two years it was yellow/green, yellow/green, etc. I called the inspector to point how flimsy the logic was but he was unable to help. He was sympathetic, though and said that if people looked at the history of an establishment and saw a pattern like the one I saw, they simply should skip the place. I heeded the advice. So please, use the link provided in the first comment, look up your favorite resto, grocer, etc and go elsewhere if they are a repeat offender!

The one thing i also have an issue with is when i see a place is closed and all the "charges withdrawn".

What the hell is that about?

Do the owners of these establishments seek legal counsel and have the charges dropped or withdrawn?

Its like One day your picking roaches out of the chow mein wok with a red closed sign in your window.

The next month the charges are withdrawn and your chasing rats out of the back door into the alley way.

something is strange with this system!

Jason: http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_26682.aspx

Matts, Cheese Magic is definitely one of those guilty of doing just that. Take a look at the dine safe report. At almost every inspection they were given a conditional pass which was soon lifted after they cleaned things up on the follow up visit. Only once did they manage a 'Pass' on the first inspection.

Also, Corina, I wasn't aware there was a problem with kitten infestations (cutest infestation EVER). There's a few reasons why I can't excuse cat droppings.

Mice can squeeze through very tiny holes and can easily get inside a building. Cats, not so. If these droppings were made by stray cats getting inside the building then they have SERIOUS pest control issues. If a cat can get in, so can a raccoon.

More likely this is the owner's cat crapping all over the place and that is irresponsible in more than one way. Besides the issue of contamination by allowing a cat into any area with food, I'm just as concerned with the welfare of the cat.

Cats love milk and cheese, but they can get pretty sick if they eat when they're no longer kittens. So letting a cat in a room full of cheese is like putting your toddler in a room of candy laced with ex-lax.

So they've either left their cat unattended in a room full of food that can make them ill and in a position to contaminate all the food, or they've been in the same room and failed to clean up their poop.

It honestly makes me wonder if the owners should be investigated by the Toronto Animal Services as well.

Ryan - my point exactly - I wasn't a regular at Cheese Magic but had I been, I would have checked Dine Safe. The system itself does not have a lot of teeth (I would propose shutting down places that get yellow signs above a certain frequency (say 2 per 18 months or whatever makes sense) but it still gives us all useful info so let's use it and put some miserable filthy merchants out of business.

It also works the opposite way as well. I had noticed Cora Pizza on Spadina being flaged quite a few times so I had stopped eating there. Now when you look it up you'll see that it's had nothing but perfect inspections in two years. I'll probably start eating there again.

Can it really be called a "kitten infestations"? How about a "Kitty Cluster"? "Kitten cuddling station"? "Fuzzy Bundles of Love and Cuteness"?

And about the possible effects of having lactose intolerant cats around dairy products.... Ewwwwwwww....

And their neighbours, My Market Bakery (My favouriet spot for baked goods) also has a shady background of keeping the area animal free... crap.

@ Greg: I find it disturbing that the media focused on one closure due to a possible Listeria tie in that was never verified, while ignoring other closures/inspections in the area.

I'm disturbed that so many people are going to places with such sketchy histories. All the shops, large or small, and restaurants I frequent seem to have perfect green records. You don't save that much by going to dodgy places, especially for groceries.

Stick to Rosedale, Yorkville, Liberty Village, and the better part of Queen West. They're all on TTC and will save you from gruesome experiences.