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State Senator Jeff Klein, who reps the Bronx, part of Yonkers, Eastchester, Mount Vernon and New Rochelle, released a list of the "dirty dozen" supermarkets of establishments that have failed many, many supermarket inspections. Klein's issue with inspections is that even if an establishment fails many times, they can still operate. Thus, a "three-strike law" should be put in place to make sure the stores shape up. Questionable establishments are in all five boroughs and include supermarkets as well as pharmacies that sell grocery goods, and NY1 has the report online (PDF), which made us sick when we read it. Here are excerpts (note that all these establishments recently passed, but may not have licenses):
Rite Aid Pharmacy, 1849 2nd Ave:Well, here's to boiling or nuking things to a pulp before eating them.
"Rodent activity was particularly rampant near retail displays of candy, snack and pet foods. 16.9 lbs. of rodent defiled foods were seized from stock room shelves on 10/26/05 and 12 lbs. of rodent defiled Iams cat food were seized from retail shelves on 8/24/05.Associated 255 W 14th Street :
"Failed four consecutive inspections between 7/05/05 and 02/02/06 due to rodent activity throughout the deli, food storage and preparation areas. Twenty-eight pounds of dog foods defiled with mouse droppings, gnaw marks and urine stains were seized from store shelves on 5/06/05. Hundreds of mouse droppings have been noted on multiple occasions."American Fu Zhou Grocery 101 East Broadway:
"Failed five consecutive inspections between 4/25/05 and 1/06/06 with four of the failures due to rodent activity (hundreds of mouse droppings) in retail and food storage areas. The fifth failure was due to foods from unapproved sources. On 1/06/06 a three lb. box of dried noodles was seized after being found to be defiled with gnaw marks and mouse droppings."Noah Products 322 Ditmas Ave, Brooklyn:
"Failed six consecutive inspections between 10/12/05 and 2/15/06 due to rodent (dozens of mouse droppings cited on 5 occasions) and insect (3 instances of live cockroaches) activity. Two shipping cartons of rodent defiled smoked fish were seized on 10/12/05"
What's the dirtiest supermarket you've been to? We don't consider Rite Aid a supermarket, but we have noticed that some locations are particularly gross while Duane Reade locations tend to be cleaner on the whole.
Photograph of Associated Supermarket (though not the one in the study) from rachelleb
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I've been in plenty of dirty supermarkets around NYC, but the one that suprises me the most in its grossness is the Gristedes on Henry and Clark in Brooklyn Heights. I mean that place is nasty. I've found (very frightening looking) produce in their pharmacy section. 'nuff said.
You've got to love the language the inspectors use to make it sound particularly horrifying:
"Rodent activity particularly rampant", "defiled with gnaw marks and mouse droppings."
Makes it sound like Willard, Ben, and Food of the Gods had a cocktail party.
The nastiest market I've been to in nyc has to be the Key Food in Forest Hills, Queens near 78th Ave and Queens Blvd. For years the whole place looked like a bomb had gone off. At times there was no real flooring (only plywood or cardboard), the freezers where constantly breaking down (only to have the same frozen foods in the freezer the next day), and the worst produce I have ever come across. Not to mention every time it rained, water would drip from about 100 different places all over the food and the floor. This led to the whole market smelling like a rotten fungus covered corpse.
They did however have a decent beer selection.
I nominate the Met on Smith st. in Brooklyn. Rotting meat, slimy produce, bugs, dirty floors, horrible smell like something just died... the list goes on and on.
C-Town, Pathmark, C-Town, Pathmark, C-Town, Pathmark, C-Town, Pathmark, C-Town, Pathmark, C-Town, Pathmark, C-Town, Pathmark, C-Town, Pathmark, C-Town, Pathmark, C-Town, Pathmark, C-Town, Pathmark, C-Town, Pathmark, C-Town
The Associated near Pratt Institute in Brooklyn (on Myrtle Avenue) was particularly disgusting during my college years. When they restocked the meat department they would bring the packaged meat out in shopping carts and just leave it in the center of the aisle. It smelled like carrion and rotting vegetables in there, and I'd hate to know how many cases of E. coli were floating around that petri dish of a grocery store.
all the c-towns are franchises, so each is different: the one in bburg is gross and all the produce is dead, but the one in PS is clean and has great food and better prices.
but the worst i've seen is the met food on vanderbilt, right near grand army plaza. you really wonder how these place stay open (altho, now i don't wonder...)
The National Supermarket on 4th Avenue and 25th Street in Brooklyn is gross - it smells like vomit and there is always sawdust all over the floor.
Gotta second the Met Food on Smith nomination. Absolutely disgusting.
Close behind are Key Food supermarkets. There seems to be a mandated grossness quota, plus I think they are secretly market-testing their own scent on unsuspecting shoppers: Expiration.
The "Busy Bee" grocery in Greenpoint on Nassau street is NASTY. Rat traps are all over the place under the shelves, and there are open bags of food spilling all over the place. It's a messy disaster and I will never set foot in there again.
The Met on 31st Street newar Astoria Blvd in Astoria was always pretty mad. It smelled of rotting meat. It has closed, and signs claim it is soon to be a Staples--sort of a random location for a Staples.
Vote #3 for the Met Grocery on Smith in Cobble Hill. WORST produce I've ever seen in my life. Really dirty. Gross.
Why can't there be a halfway decent grocery store in Cobble Hill/Carroll Gardens???
While the Associated in my new neighborhood of Park Slope is like grocery shopping at the Ritz, the Associated in my old neighborhood of Bushwick was absolutely gross. The produce was untouchable.
The Gristede's on East 86th - the mice there aren't even shy, if you go late at night they'll just dart right past you - pretty damn disgusting.
The Associated on West 100th street is probably the grossest supermarket I've ever been to. The frozen food section reeks of vomit and thats probably the highlight of the store.
The Associated on West 100th street is probably the grossest supermarket I've ever been to. The frozen food section reeks of vomit and thats probably the highlight of the store.
The Fine Fare at Grand Street & the FDR is bad for anything not in a can. The day after the Blackout of 2003--a SUNDAY--all the perishables were miraculously restocked when the rest of the city's markets had nada. Meat, ice cream, everything was in its place. "How'd you refill so quickly?" we asked a manager. "Fast delivery" was the answer. Everything replaced by noon? No way.
Runner up: the Gristede on E. 96th & 3rd, under Normandie Court. Green meat and obviously thawed and refrozen goods (bulging packages and smeared--wet--ink). Eww.
Both the Key Food and the C-Town on Washington Avenue in Crown/Prospect Heights are pretty disgusting.
The C-Town just plain smells like ass, all the time. It's that rancid meat odor. Nasty.
The Key Food has been undergoing renovations and they're not doing a very good job of it. I went in a month ago and the freezer cases weren't working -- I reached in to pick up a package of frozen shrimp and it felt like it was full of lukewarm liver. Who knows how long it had been that way? Yet they were still selling everything in the cases. Then I went towards the back of the store, thinking I'd only pick up a few necessary dry goods, and one of the new fridge cases was leaking, forming a huge puddle on the floor. I slipped and hit my arm on a stack of milk crates. I left with my pants soaked and a humongous bruise. Probably should have thrown a fit and sued them, but I just vowed not to go back.
And local grocery stores wonder why FreshDirect is doing so much business.
MET food on Smith Street for sure. Upon entering you are greeted with the pungent smell of cat shit, confusing until you notice the cat shitting on the produce. Ahhh! Makes sense now. Disgusting.
Most C-Towns are nasty and depressing. However, the Park Slope one is surprisingly nice.
Is there a rule that all Gristedes have to be disgusting? I've tried to shop at a few (mostly UES and UWS years ago) and they always live up to the childish nickname Gross-tedes.
Oh, yeah--MET on Smith...THAT SMELL!
Re that Keyfood in Queens--I had my ATM card stolen there...by a CASHIER.
This post remided me of the NYC Dept of Health website for restaurant inspections:
http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/html/rii/index.shtml
Over 20,000 NYC restaurant inspection results are available online. Restaurants get points for every violation and if they get over 28 points, additional compliance inspections are required. Here are some examples that may shock and awe:
BLT Fish = 24
Nobu = 25
Eleven Madison Park = 22
Some common themes are not having a choking poster displayed properly or food not being stored at the correct temperature, but once in a while you might see some violations related to insects or rodents.
On the other hand, since everything is pretty much pre-cooked and pre-packaged, it's no surprise that McDonald's has really low ratings across the city (from 0-4).
Check out your favorite restaurants in the city and see what's really in the kitchen!
vote #2 for that associated in bushwick. blech.
also, the ctown in LIC on 21st street used to be absolutely awful -- inedible produce, huge holes in the floor and buckets to catch the rainwater coming in. not to mention, of course, rat-bitten bags of rice and other food. oh, god.
but it's been bought out and majorly updated since. it's not a prize, the selection is small, but it is a thousand times better.