Posted on 03/05/2010 6:03:30 AM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
You need permits and crap just to have a coffee pot??
How do you “prep” donuts that came in a box?
Can I assume there are no coffee makers in the Health Department’s office? And I’m sure they don’t allow office workers to occasionally bring in a box of donuts or cookies.
By Tony Biasotti, Ventura County Star
March 2, 2010
County officials Tuesday defended their recent order to a Camarillo hardware store to stop giving away coffee and doughnuts, saying they were more concerned about the stores practice of cooking and serving barbecued meat.
County Supervisor Kathy Long, whose district includes the Camarillo location of the B&B Do It Center, asked Environmental Health Director Bob Gallagher to discuss the issue at Tuesdays Board of Supervisors meeting.
Both Gallagher and supervisors said they thought the matter was blown out of proportion in a Ventura County Star story last week that mentioned the coffee and doughnuts but not the unpermitted barbecue.
In this specific instance, we got a complaint that a hardware store was barbecuing meat, Gallagher said. Thats something we would normally respond to, and we did. The business was cooperative we asked them to stop that and they did.
The store was also selling some food items and giving out coffee and doughnuts without a proper permit, and the owners agreed to stop doing that as well, Gallagher said.
When we visited, we found that they also put out coffee and doughnuts as something for their customers, he said. Normally we wouldnt be involved in a business if thats all they were doing, but because we were in there dealing with the other food operation, they came under our oversight.
Gallagher said county food-safety inspectors are told to concentrate on people and businesses that handle high-risk food.
Normally, a hardware store or other business thats putting out comparatively low-risk items like coffee, or lollipops for kids, were not regulating that, he said.
Long said environmental health workers have been unfairly criticized since the matter came to light, as bloggers and news organizations across the country have picked up the story.
The inspection was in response to a legitimate complaint, and the hardware store was very complimentary in response to the inspector on how it was handled, Long said. That should have been the end of the story, and it really spun out of control.
John Moore, metro editor of The Star, said an Environmental Health Division official was interviewed for more than 15 minutes by a reporter for last weeks story and never mentioned the violation was for unpermitted barbecue. Had she said that, we certainly would have included the information in our original story, Moore said.
The family-run hardware store has been serving customers free coffee for 20 years and doughnuts for the past six or seven years, owner Randy Collins said Tuesday.
Collins said employees were only promoting the stores new barbecue smoker by cooking the meat in front for a few hours on Saturdays.
We were only doing it a month or two, Collins said. Customers would ask for samples, and frankly the employees just did not realize they were doing anything wrong. That caused the complaint, and we stopped it as soon as the Health Department came in.
When Collins was told the doughnuts and coffee also had to go unless he made various changes to his store including putting in a new three-compartment sink, a refrigerator and approved flooring he decided to stop the free caffeine and sweet treats, he said.
Collins said he also was told to stop selling candy.
This is so common in so many small businesses, like salons, car dealerships, barber shops, even the dentist, Collins said. Its so common in the small business world, but do these businesses know it is illegal? Im not angry ... Im just disappointed. Its still nice to serve your customers something.
Staff writer Marjorie Hernandez contributed to this report.
“You need permits and crap just to have a coffee pot??”
Only when Starbucks files an ‘anonymous’ complaint.
This says it all:
Weve abandoned common sense where the need for licenses and fees are more important than tradition.
“Inspectors told Collins that unless he was willing to install stainless-steel sinks with hot and cold water and have a prep kitchen to handle the food, he was violating the law.”
For a box of f’ing donuts????
I have shopped in this store over the years. Very good people.
She had that Camarillo brillo
Flamin out along her head,
I mean her mendocino bean-o
By where some bugs had made it red
-FZ
Ping to #5.
Apparently they would have to spray them in the stainless steel sink they would be required to install - you know, just so they could use it. Then put the soggy donuts back in the box after you rinse off the glaze.
Insanity.
And then people complain that small businesses can’t compete with Walmart ... but they never blame the regulators, do they?
My credit union always has self serve coffee and cookies out. I guess in California that would be illegal? Although if I looked hard enough, it is probably illegal in Wisconsin too.
The government gets to TELL you whether you can give donuts to your customers? Might have to draw a line HERE. Even the frog would recognize that the water is getting too warm.
Hey, wait a minute. Don’t those guys work for US? I don’t particularly like my employees uppity.
I wonder then about companies that have coffee for just their employees, or the ones that bring in donuts on Fridays.
What about birthdays? Every place I have worked for does birthday cakes.
One person said its “about the money”. Yep I think that nails it.
I’ll bet the county office has a coffee pot and doughnuts too!!!
From telling parents they can not have their babies circumcized to telling some guy just being a friendly neighbor the busybodies just keep the hits coming.
These folks must have a retired lawyer or two that are customers, who could take this case and have some fun with it.
The “anonymous” customer probably runs a local Dunkin Donuts...
Here's a clue to me — ‘The newspaper interviewed HER (the government perpetrator) for over 15 minutes.”
They work for We the People. I think that will be the gist of my next bumper sticker.
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