BJ's Wholesale cited for health code issues
Published on May 21st, 2008
STONEHAM - The town's Board of Health unearthed evidence of multiple health code violations at BJ's Wholesalers during a spot inspection last week.
Last Tuesday, Health Agent Robert Bracey conducted a spot inspection of the Cedar Street business, located just shy of the Woburn line off of Washington Street, after receiving an anonymous complaint about multiple health code violations in the store's deli, bakery, and meat areas.
In total, Bracey found evidence to support 6 of the 8 accusations made by the anonymous source, with the wholesaler being cited for 12 critical code violations.
Perhaps the most significant violation found during Tuesday's inspection, Bracey discovered that stagnant water from a mop-sink was pooling onto the floor and then creeping into the meat storage room.
"The walls were encrusted with a black-moldish area. A little [of the water] was leaking under the door and into the meat storage area," said Bracey. "You're talking about stagnant water which is full of bacteria."
The health agent also found that workers at the BJ's snack bar were not always washing their hands after changing gloves and handling money, that gloves weren't being worn when ready-to-eat food was handled, and that a hand-sink was actually blocked, preventing its use.
Bracey has ordered that BJ's correct all of the infractions within two weeks. Several of the issues were corrected on the spot.
According to BJ's Wholesalers spokeswoman Julie Somers, company officials have addressed most, if not all, of the violations discovered by Bracey last week.
"We take health inspections extremely seriously and we're working very closely with the Board of Health," said Somers. "The significant thing about this is we take this very seriously. What we have been cited for we are addressing, if we have not already addressed it."
The town's Board of Health is still investigating, but has yet to find any evidence to support, an accusation that employees at BJ's Wholesalers ground expired meat into hamburger and then placed it back on the shelf for sale.
Bracey emphasized that BJ's officials are cooperating fully with the Board of Health, and that no evidence has surfaced to date to support that claim.
"In all fairness to them, because of the severity of that issue, I can only say that we're still investigating that," said Bracey. "If it was found to be true, you're not only looking at a state violation, but a federal one."
"I didn't find any evidence of that, yet. I still need to speak to their quality control person," the health agent added. "We will review and examine all the procedures and policies in regards to ground meat. If at any point we feel it is necessary, we will refer this to the state health department and the federal government."
Somers insists that the company takes heath code regulations very seriously, and that BJ's would never condone the practice of placing expired meats onto the shelf for sale.
"I can only comment on what we know as fact," the spokeswoman said. "There were some basic findings and that [grinding up expired meat] was not one of them."
"We have not found evidence of that. BJ's has not found that to be true, nor has the inspector. We do not do that. It's against our policy and it's against our standards," Somers added.
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