Well, is it any worse than a place where you find used condoms in children's play area?
But I've been there a couple of times. They're really nice. I hope they're able to fix this. The store front used to be another Vietnamese deli, then sat empty for years till they took over.
@6: Yes it is worse, because I do not go to the play area and put the floor in my mouth.
Not saying they should be run out of town on a rail, but no one who lets rats and pigeons shit in the food should be allowed to serve food to the public.
Washington State should require the window front display of health department ratings of all food establishments. It wouldn't guarantee (ratings obviously might be wrong or unfair sometimes) but it would better inform the public with regard to severe violators.
Hell, no. This isn't a second chance. Now it's more like a fourth or fifth chance. And this isn't about forgetting to store meats on the bottom or some of the stock being expired. It's about PICKING YOUR FRIGGING NOSE before serving food, lying to the customers about what's in the food, and rats running around. (AND PIGEONS ON VATS!!! Right, David?) Sounds like the only thing this nice, wonderful lady cares about is cutting corners, all the time and everytime, and papering over the holes with all this inspirational phooey. Thank god I never ate there. If I had, I'd be running for the toothpaste and the Listerine right now. I know you take some risks when you eat out, but this is ridiculous.
Oh dear. Lesson learned: Next time, I'm gonna check and see how many pigeons are perched on a place's exposed soaking vats before giving it the public thumbs-up.
Down here in Oly the county's restaurant inspection results are given in the paper weekly. It sounds like this FDA process is different though, geared toward the manufacturing side?
In comparison, Northwest Tofu's problem with 'inadequate hand washing facilities' is no big deal. I kind of want to know whether it was one pigeon or multiple pigeons on the vats at this place.
Check out the Google streetview of their factory (those tarps and boxes behind the white van). This is going to take more than a little retraining to fix.
@7 Don't forget the Sad Trombone sound effect. All of Useless Will's posts are accompanied by the Sad Trombone.
You have to supply it yourself, using your imagination. But it's there!
@7 and you'd be wrong. Do some actual research. Heck, just read the print edition of the Stranger that you're commenting in ... the answers were in here.
I ate there a half a dozen times (possibly more) and I am pissed. After living in NYC and eating of the carts (read, rat traps) on Mott and Canal - my life just lost about 2 more years. Damn it!! This really bums me out.
They said they found rats and rat feces in the 'facility' not in the food. There's a difference.
Personally, I'm willing to take risks with some foods, but not with Tofu. I only buy Tofu from large companies that have contracts with the big chains. I want to know they're being made accountable, and aren't going to be taking risks with hygiene.
Tofu is like Aagar - what you use in high school science to grow bacteria.
About 1% of USDA beef has e.coli in it prior to cooking. About 1% of healthy livestock cows have e.coli in their intestines. So, roughly 100% of the time you eat beef it has cooked or frozen animal shit in it. It tends to get everywhere after they cut cows' throats and they flail around.
Not that I advocate bringing anything resembling the "L.A. Lifestyle" to lovely Seattle,but they DO have a pretty handy system of signage in LA County for eateries. A large 'A' in the window shows that they've passed muster for regs and cleanliness. It's easy to avoid (or at least enter with 'caveat emptor') any establishment that has a C in the window. Couldn't King Co. do something similar?
I dunno. Throw it out to be 100% safe, but cooking it well is probably okay. Like @33 said, the report is of ratshit in the facility, not the food, and if illness were a serious problem, we'd probably have heard of an outbreak by now. And anyway, it was already fried when you bought it. So maybe cook it well.
36: I was trying to do some math... 1% of meat has E. coli, but only 1% of cows have E. coli. That means the 99% of meat without E. coli likely has shit on it from the 99% of cows that don't have E. coli. Rough math is all you can do, since nobody tracks shit in meat because they just assume you'll cook it hot enough for it not to matter. The USDA doesn't even care about E.Coli (which only comes from shit & intestines) at lowish levels because of the assumption that everyone cooks it.
You should cook your tofu as well, even if only rare cases like this have animal contamination, unlike meat, where it comes standard.
Call me old-fashioned, but I have a rule of thumb about restaurants: if they don't care about the dining room, they care even less about the kitchen. I walk through little Saigon quite frequently, and there are only a few restaurants I would consider patronizing. The businesses, by and large, have no pride. Everything is dirty.
"I was trying to do some math... 1% of meat has E. coli, but only 1% of cows have E. coli. That means the 99% of meat without E. coli likely has shit on it from the 99% of cows that don't have E. coli."
Oh, man! Can't say I am surprised. I wanted to like this place so much-- it was all vegan and they made their own soy milk and that lady was always so nice! Until one day when I found a bunch of pubes in my soy pork. :-(
@33 Just a "more you know" but agar is just a starch, like pectin, that forms a gelatinous matrix when a sufficient amount is cooked into water. What bacteria grow on in the agar mix is a mix of sugars and proteins, which of course tofu has plenty of. So the thrust of your point is right.
"About 1% of healthy livestock cows have e.coli in their intestines."
That's alarming. You'd think that 100% of healthy livestock cows -- or any other mammal -- would have e. coli in their intestines. That's because e. coli is the predominant intestinal bacteria. That's why it has coli in the name.
(by the way, bean curds are wonderful things, but did you realize all soy-based products are 80-90 pct GMO nowadays in the US?)
No, but the feces are. *rimshot*
But I've been there a couple of times. They're really nice. I hope they're able to fix this. The store front used to be another Vietnamese deli, then sat empty for years till they took over.
Not saying they should be run out of town on a rail, but no one who lets rats and pigeons shit in the food should be allowed to serve food to the public.
http://www.chuminh-tofu.com/Products.htm…
You have to supply it yourself, using your imagination. But it's there!
May you never be allowed to open an establishment that serves food EVER AGAIN!!!!
Personally, I'm willing to take risks with some foods, but not with Tofu. I only buy Tofu from large companies that have contracts with the big chains. I want to know they're being made accountable, and aren't going to be taking risks with hygiene.
Tofu is like Aagar - what you use in high school science to grow bacteria.
So, "About 1% " = "roughly 100%."
Got it...
Also, I happen to have some Chu Minh fried tofu in the freezer... Throw it out or cook it well?
I dunno. Throw it out to be 100% safe, but cooking it well is probably okay. Like @33 said, the report is of ratshit in the facility, not the food, and if illness were a serious problem, we'd probably have heard of an outbreak by now. And anyway, it was already fried when you bought it. So maybe cook it well.
You should cook your tofu as well, even if only rare cases like this have animal contamination, unlike meat, where it comes standard.
I hate to tell you this, but we already knew. By the way, I've been told there was a lot of rat-fucking going on back there, not all of it consensual.
This. Makes. No. Sense.
That's alarming. You'd think that 100% of healthy livestock cows -- or any other mammal -- would have e. coli in their intestines. That's because e. coli is the predominant intestinal bacteria. That's why it has coli in the name.