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State legislators are proposing
a new law that would give Mayor
Bloomberg’s health cops the authority
to inspect grocery stores
and farmers’ markets — much as
they do restaurants, The Post has
learned.
State Sen. Tony Avella (D-Queens),
complaining that there are too few
inspectors from the state Agriculture
Department, wants the city Health
Department to pick up the slack.
“Is protecting our food important? I
think it is,” Avella said. “When I had
a problem with a supermarket in my
district, I had trouble getting inspectors
out here to respond.”
Avella complained that Agriculture
inspectors don’t make any visits after
5 p.m. — and noted that most store
sanitary violations occur at night.
Under the measure, city health
inspectors would enforce the state
food-safety code, not the city’s.
Pols push for
grocery inspections
Memo to supermarkets and grocers:
Better clean up your act!
But the grocery-store industry had
a universal response to the proposal:
Hell, no!
“I’m opposed. Everything the city
does is for revenue generation. The
city guys are looking to create more
fees than the state guys,” said John
Catsimatides, owner of the Gristides
supermarket chain.
Joseph Rogers, president of the
Food Industry Alliance of New York
state, said, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix
it.”
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