Agata & Valentina Takes Food Prep Tips From Whole Foods

Last weekend, a tipster sent us a photo of Whole Foods' prepared chicken taking an elevator ride next to some gross trash bags. Whole Foods quickly apologized for the whole thing, and the city went back to believing that its gourmet markets served nothing but food of the highest quality. That is, until another tipster sent us these photos. She writes:

Today I was eating a sandwich in Subway on 1st Ave next to Agata & Valentina below 79th street. Along came a fish van and out came and A&V worker. The worker brought an old hand truck out and he loaded two large fish carcasses onto it. Then he took a third and placed it on the sidewalk. A few minutes later he took the second fish off the hand truck and put it on the sidewalk. He hauled the first fish away into the store and left the other two fish laying on the sidewalk for a good ten minutes. He came out again and loaded up another fish, then about five minutes later again came out and this time carried the last fish in his hands. Just before entering the store he dropped the fish on the sidewalk before making it inside. I also saw him wiping his nose with his gloved hand between handling the fish. This is totally disgusting and thought I should pass it along.

A call to Agata & Valentina left us on hold for a while until a gentleman took our number and promised to have the right person get back to us. A call Bob Gosman Company Inc., the seafood purveyors, was answered by a woman who told us that nobody was there and to try back for "Brian" in the morning. Though Agata & Valentina doesn't have a restaurant grade yet, it lost points on its last inspection for having "cold food held above 41°F (smoked fish above 38°F) except during necessary preparation."

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jaya Saxena in Food on October 23, 2010 4:38 PM

Comments [rss]

wow 14th street

"Canine urine ala concrete "encrusted fish,gives it that special flav voir.

Yes ,I worked in a restaurant ,worse happens routinely

after all it's just a job. Nice story and I would bet

where these workers come from ,fish laying on the ground

is acceptable. What is funny is the reaction,"call Brian in the Morning", sure!!!

plano10

Mmmm,I'll have the swordfish with a side of dogshit, please.

grizzly27

I am so glad to see that NYC people are NOT so naive. Subway sandwich eating people have too much time on their hands. So what happens with our food? It never touches the ground? maybe you never worked in the food industry. Get real, you shoiuld never eat out if this really concerns you. Just another ignorant person for justice.............

jaycjay

Sheesh. They're gutted carcasses, not a prepared meal ready to eat. I can see if someone thinks they shouldn't be on the sidewalk because, as xina mentioned above, some evidence of them will be left there, it may attract flies, rats, or whatever. But if you think this is any kind of a food safety problem, you really are extremely naive about where your food comes from and how it's processed.

Do you think that the boat on which those fish were caught is cleaner than a NYC sidewalk? How about the interior of that truck?

Cannibal

or the ocean?

grandzu

Shes disgusted by this yet she just ate at Subway? Maybe she should look into their raw ingredients.

robingee

My friends own a couple of Subways and they are really clean.

Also, the fish is skinned and we eat the inside.

luke*

Looks like it still has its scales, or to those of you who have never seen raw ingredients: the wrapper. Who cares if that is touching the sidewalk? You're not going to be eating it anyway.

Cannibal

Bear Grylls wouldnt mind.

Cannibal

OMG barf fish on the GROUND gross thas so naaasty!!!

the only thing dirtier would be if you dumped the fish in the grimy ocean or some shit, with all the plastic an oil floating in it... puke

robingee

Fish on the ground.

Fish on the ground.

Lookin' like a fool with your fish on the ground.

xina

I don't think this is the first time. my dog always goes nuts on that sidewalk in front of store, sniffing like crazy then stops drops and rolls around which is not normal for him. makes sense now reading this. gross!

kazubes

Agata & Valentina employee cheap, stupid laborers as food handlers and preps. I once witnessed a woman at the hot foods counter sneeze directed into the turkey breast tray, didn't even bother to cover her mouth.

OSN!

What do they pay? Are they lobbied by community activist hire certain types of people? Does the government grant certain tax breaks,etc., if they hire certain types of people? Would you be willing to pay more for them to hire less 'stupid' people?

kazubes

They hire the same type of person McDonalds does to serve up their fries, no experience, low pay, and in the case of this store, stupid food preps. Their meat section has no proper butcher, their fisher section has no fish monger, their cheese, deli meats, etc its all the same people interchanging and none of them know shit all what they're doing. Thats all well and good at Food Emporium, but at a 'gourmet', extremely high priced store like this, its laughable.

OSN!

Clean it, properly prepare it, you'll be fine. Do you mother f'ers realize what those fish have been through before they took a nap on a NYC sidewalk? That sidewalk was clean compared to where they came from.

limedcoconut

God, enjoy your blissful ignorance of how food gets to you. those tuna carcasses have probably been skidded across half a dozen floors on the way to your plate. Get over it. They skin it and you cook it. Thats why we cook. Fuck.

Trilby16

These lowest -level employees are always the "weakest link" in any operation, and at a food store, they're the ones who ultimately handle your food. So now you know. Cook at home or else try not to think about it too much.

OSN!

The hotshots who employ the low-level' employees find the cheapest workers they can find, or subcontract for more plausible deniability. Someone will be fired, the rest will be 'retrained' or some such executive bullshit.