Jerusalem – A butcher shop in Jerusalem’s Mahane Yehuda market was shut down on Thursday by the municipality after inspectors found “a large number of mice and cockroaches running around, rodent poison scattered on the food, outdated products sold and the scraps of rotten meat.” The municipality said the place was an “immediate danger to public health.
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Called Itliz Yehoshua, the butcher shop is located at 15 Mahane Yehuda Street.
The Jerusalem Court for Municipal Affairs, which accepted the position of the municipality, said the findings were very serious.
There was evidence that the shop had not been cleaned for a long time. Drains were filthy and full of rotting garbage and cigarette butts. The meat grinding machine was found near a nest of cockroaches. It was clear, the municipality said, that owners held customers and their health in total disregard.
The owner was given a few hours to get out before the shop was closed down. The city’s veterinary service will continue to watch the butcher shop to make sure the order is observed and to make surprise visits to other food establishments to ensure they are carrying out the rules of the Health Ministry.
The ministry reiterated that they should purchase meat only from establishments with updated stamps showing they have been approved, and that the meat and other products must be kept under proper cold conditions, without being defrosted and refrozen. Anything else can cause diseases, the ministry said.
Content is provided courtesy of the Jerusalem Post
Is this a Kosher establishment or Halal meat?
Probably neither. The meat stores in Machane Yehuda are disgusting. Actually, every store is. Food, even candy, is open to flies. I saw birds pecking in sacks of seeds and a baklava seller with cigarette ash about to fall in his stock as he bashed a tin lid against the counter to shoo away the pigeon that was settling down for dessert. It’s a great place full of amazing history, but I would never buy anything there other than produce (which I soak in solution).
Doesn’t the local health department keep better tabs on these filthy places of business? In the USA, the local health departments periodically conduct surprise inspections of all businesses serving food, whether they are kosher, trefe, or somewhere in between. It doesn’t make any difference. If someone is violating the health and sanitary laws, they are given a warning, and then closed, if they fail to take corrective measures.
The veterinary service is watching? Is that for real? Are they making sure the mice and cockroaches are treated well and don’t get sick from eating the spoiled meat?