Slog Mar 15, 2013 11:11 AM

Shut Down: Seattle Tofu Company and Restaurant Had "Rodents (Live and Dead) and Rodent Feces in the Processing Facility," Among Other Horrors

by Bethany Jean Clement

Comments

1
PIGEONS SITTING ON VATS.
David Schmader on March 15, 2013 at 11:16 AM · Report this
2
Aw, goddammit. I thought this place was delicious. What a rotten way to find out your tastes lean towards the heavy end of the rat shit spectrum.
Cienna Madrid on March 15, 2013 at 11:20 AM · Report this
3
Tofu: The Other White Meat.

(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?)
Will in Seattle on March 15, 2013 at 11:21 AM · Report this
4
Is rat meat considered vegan?

No, but the feces are. *rimshot*
sirkowski on March 15, 2013 at 11:32 AM · Report this
5
Another blow to the vegan infrastructure of Seattle, it seems.
Theodore Gorath on March 15, 2013 at 11:33 AM · Report this
6
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.
seatackled on March 15, 2013 at 11:35 AM · Report this
7
@3: No but I realized that all of your comments are 80-90 percent bullshit. (The rest is mostly punctuation and the letters FTW).
Ziggity on March 15, 2013 at 11:37 AM · Report this
8
@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.
Theodore Gorath on March 15, 2013 at 11:39 AM · Report this
9
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.
Concerned for the Community on March 15, 2013 at 11:43 AM · Report this
10
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.
floater on March 15, 2013 at 11:44 AM · Report this
11
If this is what vegans eat, I'll stay with my meat dishes thank you very much!
Senor Guy on March 15, 2013 at 11:45 AM · Report this
12
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.
Anne X on March 15, 2013 at 11:55 AM · Report this
13
This is every racist cliche' about Asian restaurants come to fruition.
WenWino on March 15, 2013 at 12:00 PM · Report this
14
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?
on March 15, 2013 at 12:03 PM · Report this
15
@4: If honey doesn't count, I think poop is "safely" considered an animal product.
undead ayn rand on March 15, 2013 at 12:04 PM · Report this
16
This does remind me though of another vegetarian friend's famous question in another restaurant 'how many legs does a noodle have?'
on March 15, 2013 at 12:04 PM · Report this
17
@13: It's missing several, as far as I can imagine.
undead ayn rand on March 15, 2013 at 12:05 PM · Report this
18
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.
alight on March 15, 2013 at 12:07 PM · Report this
19
@17, well nothing about seagull traps on the roof...
WenWino on March 15, 2013 at 12:12 PM · Report this
20
How to get the Ho Chi Minh Shits locally!
on March 15, 2013 at 12:16 PM · Report this
21
Well, I guess I'll stick to Guiness cupcakes with Irish Cream frosting for the rest of my life. Problem solved.
Baby Blue on March 15, 2013 at 12:26 PM · Report this
22
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.
Matt the Engineer on March 15, 2013 at 12:29 PM · Report this
23
And the back door of the factory.
Matt the Engineer on March 15, 2013 at 12:31 PM · Report this
24
Shit shit shit shit shit. Of course everything I thought was such a good deal at Uwajimaya is actually mostly poo:
http://www.chuminh-tofu.com/Products.htm…
AirBuddy on March 15, 2013 at 12:45 PM · Report this
25
Tofu is filthy.
M. Wells on March 15, 2013 at 12:55 PM · Report this
26
@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!
Dr_Awesome on March 15, 2013 at 12:58 PM · Report this
27
The difference between tofu and meat is that people pay extra for more body parts & bodily fluids in their meat.
raku on March 15, 2013 at 1:01 PM · Report this
28
@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.
Will in Seattle on March 15, 2013 at 1:06 PM · Report this
29
Shit. Well I was afraid that this place was too good to be true. GAH
i'm pro-science and i vote on March 15, 2013 at 1:44 PM · Report this
30
You fed your customers RAT FUCKING SHIT!!! How does that help me live a better lifestyle?

May you never be allowed to open an establishment that serves food EVER AGAIN!!!!
Cato the Younger Younger on March 15, 2013 at 2:46 PM · Report this
31
Will is Seattle is Seattle's Own Village Idiot. Fuck me, he's dumber than a rock.
on March 15, 2013 at 2:53 PM · Report this
32
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.
snacktruck on March 15, 2013 at 4:15 PM · Report this
33
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.
doloresdaphne on March 15, 2013 at 5:12 PM · Report this
34
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.
raku on March 15, 2013 at 5:12 PM · Report this
35
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?
Gospodean on March 15, 2013 at 6:16 PM · Report this
36
@34
So, "About 1% " = "roughly 100%."
Got it...
Senor Guy on March 15, 2013 at 7:14 PM · Report this
37
What on earth does it take to get shut down then & there instead of being issued a series of warning letters..?

Also, I happen to have some Chu Minh fried tofu in the freezer... Throw it out or cook it well?
aiff on March 15, 2013 at 9:31 PM · Report this
38
@37

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.
seatackled on March 15, 2013 at 10:37 PM · Report this
39
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.
raku on March 16, 2013 at 12:00 AM · Report this
40
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.
Catalina Vel-DuRay on March 16, 2013 at 7:37 AM · Report this
41
Aw, goddammit. What a rotten way to find out your tastes lean towards the heavy end of the rat shit spectrum.

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.

Unbrainwashed on March 18, 2013 at 1:02 AM · Report this
42
"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."

This. Makes. No. Sense.

on March 19, 2013 at 5:35 PM · Report this
43
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. :-(
Brittnie Fuller on April 5, 2013 at 5:47 PM · Report this
44
@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.
Joel_are on January 6, 2014 at 7:38 AM · Report this
45
"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.
Joel_are on January 6, 2014 at 7:42 AM · Report this