Beauty in the Ordinary

This is not about being brilliant, or extraordinary, it's not about wanting to be famous, or making headlines, or trying to impress...this about sharing a 'gift' each day with the world...to lift the spirit of people when they read this blog, to show them the beauty in the ordinary.
"And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don't believe in magic will never find it." Raold Dahl

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Duh!

Good Lord, people are stupid!


Toronto Public Health has closed the Avenue Rd. and Lawrence location of upscale grocery store Pusateri’s due to poor sanitation and pest infestation.
Pusateri’s general manager John Mastroianni, however, said the store was closed for “general maintenance.”

“It’s not rodents,” Mastroianni said, repeatedly insisting that the issue was equipment related and “general maintenance.”
The inspection arose as a result of a public complaint, she said adding the pest infestation included rats as well as cockroaches.

“It was evident there was poor sanitary conditions and infestation of both rats and cockroaches,” she said.
A statement from Pusateri’s said staff hoped to have the store up and running again within a couple of days. In the meantime, their two other stores are still open for business.
“We regret that this situation has occurred and we want to ensure our loyal customers and friends that we are diligently working on rectifying this situation. We will continue to provide the high quality products and service that we are known for,” said Ida Pusateri, vice-president of Pusateri's Fine Foods.
The statement said a small portion of the storage area and walk-in coolers as well as "hard-to-reach and obscure locations" seem to have been infested by pests, which may have been missed as a result of human error during our ongoing routine maintenance.
Meanwhile, staff inside the store Thursday afternoon could be seen cleaning and scrubbing shelves, before returning the gourmet cookies and biscotti to their places.
Mastroianni said the store receives food shipments from hundreds of suppliers from all over the world and pest control is carried out regularly.  Mastrioanni said there was no issue with the store's food safety, and exterminators were going to work around the clock until the store is reinspected and reopened.  "We apologize for any inconvenience to our customers," he said.  Mastroianni said it was the first time a Pusateri's has been closed due to pests.
“I'm surprised,” said Rod, who would not give his last name and was planning to shop at Pusateri’s for the first time on Thursday afternoon. “It doesn't quite fit the image, does it?”

Sam, a regular Pusateri's customer, said he is going to think twice about shopping at the Avenue Rd. and Lawrence location.  
"It would be the last place I would expect this at," he said. "I'm shocked."





Good grief people...we share this planet with all manner of creatures.   Do you really believe that you can keep Mother Nature at bay all the time?  
How stupid.
Now...I am not one for insects and rodents crawling all over my food, but I do accept that they are going to be somewhere in the vicinity of me.
Let's not get overly precious here!

9 comments:

  1. Hi Jacqueline

    I love Pusateri's and we used live close by and I shop there a lot.

    I am like you and still believe it is one of the classiest stores in Canada, if not North America.

    There are many suspicious and neglected grocery stores in Toronto and it makes one wonder why they escape the Health Inspector.I will continue to support Pusateri's

    Helenxx

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  2. In this economy something like this can put a store or restaurant out of business. They will lose business for awhile, but hopefully people will have short memories.

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  3. Yes, I agree, how silly.
    Of course no one wants rodents running around where you purchase or eat food
    (unless one of them is the real Ratatouille!) ... but where there is food there obviously are going to be little critters.
    Hopefully this wont keep customers away from Pusateri's when they reopen, I love that shop.

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  4. Yes, we do have to share the world. Many creatures were here before we were, and may be after we're gone.
    Interesting note on the location. That's just a few blocks from where I grew up. But we never had any major pest infestations. That I recall.

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  5. There are certain shops that I would never frequent that are squeaky clean, and others that are not that I visit regularly.

    I like your new banner photo.

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  6. My old Mum said you had to eat a pound of dirt every year (to challenge your immune system and keep you healthy). This obsession we (the larger we that is) have with a wanting/needing a totally sanitized life, I believe, is encouraging all those auto-immune issues (asthma, excema, psoriasis).
    Get out there, play in the dirt!

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  7. I used to work in Environmental Health so it's (gulp) a bit hard to comment J. Pusaten's sounds a caring sort of a place though and anybody can make a slip.

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  8. I take it you don't buy my Mum's philosophy Molly - LOL!

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  9. I've heard the same thing J...about eating dirt ever now and then is actually healthy...not that we should eat rodent poop, but a little dirt won't harm anyone. We have friends that live an extremely sanitized life and the whole family is constantly sick...the chemicals they surround themselves with don't help the matter either...all so tough on the immune system.
    Hope the shop gets back on it's feet soon...
    xo J~

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