On Thursday, August 17, 2006, I was shopping in a grocery store, in the bakery department, when I noticed what I thought were mouse droppings on the shelves with bread, rolls and other baked goods. I was disgusted!!!
On Sunday, August 20, again, I was in the bakery department of the store. Again, I saw mouse droppings on the shelves – lots of droppings. I approached an employee in the bakery and told her about it. She didn’t seem too bothered by this, but told me that she would have someone come and clean it up. Not trusting that this would actually be done, I waited around for about 15 minutes to see if someone would come. No one did.
On Monday, August 21, I called the Department of Health to express my outrage. After being passed on from person to person, the response to my claim was decidedly unenthusiastic. The woman I spoke with said she wasn’t surprised – this happens at all grocery stores. She took my name (first name only) and said she would pass on the information (to whom, I’m not sure – I assume a health inspector). I suspect that this whole claim will be mostly ignored.
So, the next time you’re shopping for raisin bread at the grocery store, make sure those are really raisins in there!
This article appears in Mar 6-12, 2008.
I am tired of people who delussionaly believe we should live in some aseptic, plastic Bubble, and who freak out when nature mistakingly stumbles into their world. Yes it’s not pretty, but you could spray all the rat poison in the world everytime a delivery truck pulls up, and they open the receiving doors out the street (yes, more nature), and yet critters will still find a way in. I’m sure when we’ve all nuc’d ourselves from here to Ohio, that little critters will still be walking over our dust in the rubble. We are so sheltered we don’t realize North America is cleaner and more aseptic than any other country and any other time in history. To top it off, our immune systems are actually losing our natural resistance to life, nature and it’s germs!. Kids on the farm end up healthier and more resistant to bugs than kids who have never seen a bug or mouse. We need to get reacquainted with nature quick, so we could really survive if we have to , and we should stop freaking every time we see a bug in our water (that’s still cleaner than anyone else’s in the world), or a little bit of mouse poo around a grocery store (that no matter how hard it tries could never possibly seal its self off from or completely kill off nature)
i had hoped that your bitch wasn’t about the grocery store i regularly shop at until i went grocery shopping last night. while going through the bread i found a loaf that was chewed. *shivers* it was pretty disturbing.as for the co-existing with nature comment. there’s a huge difference between the constant use of antibacterial soaps and cleaners which is hurting us and rat shit with our food. mouse and rat droppings are toxic. so get off your high horse.
Seriously “grossed out people”, EXPLAIN to me exactly how you all plan to prevent this? I’d love an answer. Just how much Rat poison, pesticid do you want sprayed around our food. How do you want the stores sealed so that everytime they open a receiving door or a front door something unwanted doesn’t come in? I walked in a sliding door one day at a large store and saw a mouse run inside right beside me. Do you spray for pestides in a perimeter outside around the store? The product gets changed everyday (bread has a short shelf life so we know it’s not completely forgotton about) but it comes on trucks (do we spray them too?) Please, No ones saying eat the poo! We’re just saying just be observant about these things, find a poo free piece and move on! And yes, If you all paid attention to news or science you would know that building our immunity is not just about avoiding antibactial products but about being around dirt, animal poo, simple germs, farms etc in moderation. (remember, no ones saying eat it here, Just don’t freak out if you happen to see it) If any of you grossed out people went to a farm for a day, or a country like India (where toliet paper is a LUXURY!) or any country where all your shopping is done at outdoor markets, you might never complain again. P.S – Don’t even get me started on the whole bottled water myth!
Mice are everywhere. Joseph Howe Dr Superstore is the WORST that I seen, and when i return the item to customer service, they treated like an everyday occurance. Look before you buy! Ive even seen mice on the shelves.
You people are CRACKED…yah yah coexist with nature, but since when does nature belong in the grocery store? I realize I can take the loaf of bread back but the fucking mice or whatever it is shouldn’t have been there to eat it in the first place.What do you do when there is a mouse in your house? Do you coexist with the dirty little thing then? No you set a trap and the majority of us kill them…so why do they get to run around a grocery store? I know that there will always be a few mice in a grocery store, they can’t seal the whole thing off…but at least make a conscious effort to not let them run rampid!
What about the birds who come inside? I’m waiting to see a big blob of birdshit on my Wonder Bread any day now.
All of these anti-bacterial soaps and hand creams are wiping out all our immunities as well. The doctors give anti-biotics for everything now a lot of them are useless. The viruses adapt and evolve to become stronger as we try and seal ourselves up in that bubble we get weaker—- result—- PANDEMIC enjoy it
All of these anti-bacterial soaps and hand creams are wiping out all our immunities as well. The doctors give anti-biotics for everything now a lot of them are useless. The viruses adapt and evolve to become stronger as we try and seal ourselves up in that bubble we get weaker—- result—- PANDEMIC enjoy it
just want to say – yes the “poo” is toxic, it comes down to just trying to keep things as clean as possible. Rodents will be around regardless, however when somebody complains to a staff member- this staff member should be trained properly to show empathy and how to remove offending objects from the public eye -quickly and effeciently. the problem lies with the stores trying to maintain labor cost and as a result things fall to the way side. Mice and Rats are everywhere and as a pest control person once said to me- we can’t exterminate them but only try to control the population as best as we can. they go where the food is- it’s up the the food suppliers to at least make an effort to look as though they care. I for one do not want to be surrounded by poison but if i bring something to a staff members attention please acknowledge my complaint.
just want to say – yes the “poo” is toxic, it comes down to just trying to keep things as clean as possible. Rodents will be around regardless, however when somebody complains to a staff member- this staff member should be trained properly to show empathy and how to remove offending objects from the public eye -quickly and effeciently. the problem lies with the stores trying to maintain labor cost and as a result things fall to the way side. Mice and Rats are everywhere and as a pest control person once said to me- we can’t exterminate them but only try to control the population as best as we can. they go where the food is- it’s up the the food suppliers to at least make an effort to look as though they care. I for one do not want to be surrounded by poison but if i bring something to a staff members attention please acknowledge my complaint.
The funniest thing I’ve heard today? The previous poster asking “but since when does nature belong in the grocery store?” Really? have we become so far removed from reality we don’t realize FOOD IS NATURE? Grains, fruits, veggie’s etc. (Cheese-in-a-can and twinkies excluded). And dealing with natural products brings with it everything nature entails. Funny… P.S- as for the house analogy, try keeping your all your doors and windows open for large parts of the day (to simulate the receiving doors and main store entrance) then track lots of grain and fruit products every day through your house and let me know how it goes. Something tells me all the traps in the world won’t help you.
Ok you stupid, stupid fuck…when I said ‘nature doesn’t belong in the grocery store’ I was obviously partially retarded and not thinking about my wording…but could you not have derived what I meant??? I realize that the grocery store could not exist without nature…however, the groceries do not need to exist with mice. What grocery store keeps all of their receiving doors open all day? Not to mention the receiving doors are raised to meet level with the back of a truck? So its not like mice are just running through there like its a fucking free for all…I know the customer entrances are open constantly, but how many fucking mice do you see in a fucking parking lot dickhead. I am obviously not saying that it is possible to have absolutely no mice in a grocery store, but a conscious fucking effort to keep it controlled would be nice.P.S. – fuck you
to the “you’re such a pretentious weiner” just started reading the colunm today – have to say you are a tad bit naive- yes there are mice/rats and even musk rats running all over the parking lots- they’re in the trucks that deliver them, they’re in restaurants, hotels and even malls. Scotia Square is over run with them as well as the adjoining hotels. quite simply they are are everywhere just open your eyes!!!!
perhaps u should b more concerned with the ingredients in the bread, (milk and butter from less than healthy cows, white cancer causing sugar, eggs from sick hens, genetically modified flour with unknown long term health side effects) and less concerned about shit on the shelves, the loaves r in plastic bags no?someone called mice ‘dirty little things’, this attitude is based on ignorance, dirt (negative connotation) dirt aka earth is natural, the only reason they may be dirty is because of human activity which has polluted the environment and created unatural situationsthere are healthy apples and there are genetically altered pesticide ridden tasteless thigs that look like apples, eater b ware
I get my bread at the Farmers’ market. I wonder if they are healthier. I know that they are heavier and a lot cheaper. 2.50$ for breads at least 5x heavier than those on Supermarkets.