On Healthy Living

A Whole Foods Market in Chicago was shut down because of evidence of a substantial rodent infestation at the North Side store. No such activity was found at other area Whole Foods stores, which is a leading organic and whole foods grocery store. The rodents must be killed and the store cleaned before it can be reopened.

While the vast majority of natural foods stores, like any other kind of store, are clean, wonderful places to shop, this news serves as a good reminder that you should always be on the look out for potential problems at your grocer, whether its a natural food store or a conventional grocery store. Always check expiration dates and if the store has many expired items on the shelf, call your local county health department. Also be on the look out for signs of infestation, food left on the floors or spilled grains on the floor. If the store isn’t already infested it will be if it stays dirty.

Bulk bins at natural food stores are a great place to get bargains on everything from soup mix to flour, spices to granola, and you help save the planet by not buying all that excess packaging, but this is the place you’re most likely to find problems in terms of infestation or unintentionally buying things that aren’t fresh. Get to know the bulk manager at your favorite store if possible. Find out how often stocks are rotated and when so you can buy fresh. You might also ask how long you can expect certain items to stay fresh once you take them home.

And if you see problems, don’t be afraid to report them. The health department relies on citizen watchdogs to help them between inspections, and everyone wants a non-contaminated food supply, so don’t keep it to yourself if you see questionable things. And don’t let stories like this keep you from shopping at natural foods stores. Many more stories about unhealthy grocery stores have to do with “regular” grocery stores (relabeling meat, for example), no one story should change your mind in either direction.

Sarah White wrote this on March 28th, 2005 and filed it under Healthy Living, Healthy Cooking, Healthy Eating, Health Foods, Vegetarian Cooking, Raw Foods |