At the gas station-convenience store at the intersection of Nursery Road and U.S. 19 in Clearwater, clerk Cody, the chocolate Lab wearing a shirt with a BP tag, greets customers.
Posted on 12/04/2009 2:59:35 AM PST by Daffynition
Cody, a chocolate Labrador, has for months greeted customers at the Clearwater BP gas station and convenience store at U.S. 19 and Nursery Road. A St. Petersburg Times story introduced thousands more to the jovial pup.
But Thursday morning, a state health inspector stopped by and issued a warning to Karim Mansour, the store's owner: Remove the dog or the Health Department would declare all of Mansour's food products — mostly bottled sodas, Slim Jims and candy bars — unfit for consumption.
Mansour, who adopted 6-year-old Cody three years ago, had no choice but sign the warning. His primary violation: "prohibited animals present in a food establishment."
Mansour said he will leave Cody at home by Friday, but will try to find a way for his companion to stay.
"There's no way one of my dog's hairs are going to get into a bag of Doritos," he said.
The state's move against Cody disappointed his customers.
"People in the store hearing what was going on kind of made a little protest," Mansour said.
Readers commenting on the original Times story had predicted the authorities might act.
"The Health Department will be all over this soon, watch," wrote one reader.
Another responded: "I don't think the Health Dept. is worried about a Dog in A Gas Station (The WORD IS GAS STATION), It's not like the dog is serving fresh salad."
Unfortunately for Mansour and Cody, the Health Department did show up — although it wasn't the first time.
Mansour said that in November, his usual health inspector stopped by and gave the dog a pass, as the store serves only prepackaged food.
But this time, the health inspector's supervisor accompanied him and laid down the law.
"It was a nice gimmick. I like dogs, too, but it's not up to me. You're not allowed to have the dog here," Mansour recalled the supervisor telling him.
According to the Food and Drug Administration's food code, live animals may be allowed in stores in certain situations, provided that food contamination cannot result.
One such circumstance: "In areas that are not used for food preparation, storage, sales, display or dining, in which there are caged animals or animals that are similarly confined."
Whether that means a dog is allowed to sit with cigarette cartons behind a convenience store counter is something Mansour said he plans to sort out.
At the gas station-convenience store at the intersection of Nursery Road and U.S. 19 in Clearwater, clerk Cody, the chocolate Lab wearing a shirt with a BP tag, greets customers.
The Doritos will kill you long before a dog hair does anything to you.
Exactly.
“I would bet there are worse things (health-wise) in the store than the dog.”
I’m nominating the health department “supervisor”, when he is there.
Idiot.
i would chalange the crap out of this one and f with the town to the max.....if he has no food prep licence than i see no foul.......in the mean time a nice dog mat at the front door would do fine.....
You wouldn’t want him contaminating the harmless booze and cigarettes now, would you?
/s
..that gull has this thing for dorito’s
From the FDA’s Food Defect Action Level list-allowable levels of product contamination. No mention of dog hairs, though.
CHOCOLATE AND CHOCOLATE LIQUOR
Insect filth: Average is 60 or more insect fragments per 100 grams when 6 100-gram subsamples are examined OR any 1 subsample contains 90 or more insect fragments
Rodent filth: Average is 1 or more rodent hairs per 100 grams in 6 100-gram subsamples examined OR any 1 subsample contains 3 or more rodent hairs
CITRUS FRUIT JUICES, CANNED
Insects and insect eggs: 5 or more Drosophila and other fly eggs per 250 ml or 1 or more maggots per 250 ml
RED FISH AND OCEAN PERCH
Parasites: 3% of the fillets examined contain 1 or more parasites accompanied by pus pockets
MACARONI AND NOODLE PRODUCTS
Insect filth: Average of 225 insect fragments or more per 225 grams in 6 or more subsamples
Rodent filth: Average of 4.5 rodent hairs or more per 225 grams in 6 or more subsamples
PEANUT BUTTER
Insect filth: Average of 30 or more insect fragments per 100 grams
Rodent filth: Average of 1 or more rodent hairs per 100 grams
POPCORN
Rodent filth: 1 or more rodent excreta pellets are found in 1 or more subsamples, and 1 or more rodent hairs are found in 2 or more other subsamples OR 2 or more rodent hairs per pound and rodent hair is found in 50% or more of the subsamples OR 20 or more gnawed grains per pound and rodent hair is found in 50% or more of the subsamples
WHEAT FLOUR
Insect filth: Average of 75 or more insect fragments per 50 grams
Rodent filth: Average of 1 or more rodent hairs per 50 grams
In rural Bavaria where I live is not uncommon to sit on the terrace or in a beer garden of a restaurant in pleasant weather to eat. It is equally common to see a barn with milk cows calmly chewing a cud.
I would stack up the hygiene in restaurants in Germany against that available in America and make bets on the winner. But it only make a quick comparison of the cleanliness of the toilets in Germany and America to understand the commitment to cleanliness in Germany.
The Germans have dogs in their restaurants and cows a few feet away from folks eating outdoors. The Germans have a cleaner environment. The Americans choose not to consider the cleanliness of the convenience store where this dog is greeting customers, instead the bureaucrats simply pass an edict: no dogs allowed. It seems there is a larger lesson here. Once regulators can identify a potential source of harm they simply pass a regulation to solve a real or imagined threat. Where there is no regulation, the tort lawyers fill in the gaps.
Every regulation chips away at our liberty. Sometimes I wonder whether the Europeans are really shutting down personal liberty as much as we conservatives in America contend. Maybe there is a better way?
Labs are such sweeties, and good sports, too. Up for almost anything, so long as they can be with their people.
I used to carry a bag of dog treats and when I was in the area, drive-up to give one to Cody. Mostly, he'd be "on break" sleeping.
Some time ago, I posted a story on FR about the zoning in Clearwater ..don't have time to find the story now .... but you nailed it ...people on a power trip.
Typical govt stupidity and ridgidity. We are around dog hair all day long, because as sure as shooting, if you don’t own a dog your fellow employees do and they have dog hair on their clothes.
You can’t eat just one.
Mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine...
Being one whose “other” family lives in Bavaria, I can totally vouch for the comments about dogs in restaurants and the general cleanliness as you described. I am reminded of Christmas dinner gatherings of the family at the local GhastHaus that also included the four legged family members as well.
There is a law passed under Jeb Bush that allows dogs at restaurants as long as they are outside in an open air cafe setting. One restaurant comes to mind of “Sam Sneads” in downtown Orlando. They even provide a menu for the pets and the meals are served on a Frisbee.
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