Story of Spoiled Food Taken Out of a Dumpster Happened But ...

Monroe and Trumbull residents should feel comfortable ordering takeout or dining at Chinese restaurants in their towns. Health District Board member Ray Knapp says the story he recently told the Monroe Economic Development Commission of an employee going into a Dumpster to retrieve bad meat was something he heard happened at a different type of food establishment altogether.

"The example that Ray gave was based on an explanation given by a past health department as to why we denature the food," said Patrice Sulik, director of the Trumbull Monroe Health District.

When they notice food that has gone bad, Sulik says her sanitarians make restaurant owners take it out of any container, put it in a Dumpster and denature it by pouring bleach or some other sanitizer or disinfectant on it, to prevent them from taking it back out and using it after the inspection is over.

I attended the EDC meeting and heard Knapp tell this story of a nameless food establishment right after giving a different example on Chinese restaurants, so that part is my mistake. I used it as an example of some of the serious things food inspectors work to prevent.

The story understandably upset people, who wanted to know which restaurant to avoid.

If you had heard of a business doing something as egregious as taking spoiled food out of a Dumpster to serve to the public, that would be bad enough. But if you heard that I covered a meeting where it was mentioned and didn't report on it, there would be even more outrage.

Anything said at a meeting is fair game to report on, but where I went wrong was in not asking follow up questions before writing about it. This was something that begged for more answers.

As a result, my article caused distrust in Chinese restaurants in the district and left readers demanding to know who would do such a thing. Worse, you had to then wait for me to make calls and look into it to try to find some answers.

I apologize to all of you and to the restaurant owners for that.

All of the health district records are open to the public. To ensure whether or not anything like this ever happened in Trumbull or Monroe over the past three years of major storms could be done. But it would be by poring over hundreds of inspections records with nothing specific to focus on.

If anyone ever comes to me with enough reliable information about a food establishment caught doing something as bad as trying to serve spoiled food, I promise to follow up on it.

Of the Trumbull Monroe Health District's goal, Sulik said, "Our number one priority is the safety of the community, and to that end we have a strong food protection program where we try to work with the food establishment owners to acheive long term compliance."

If anyone has any questions about food inspections, the health district or its programs, she says they can call the office at 203-452-5195.