Rodents, bugs lead way in recent city restaurant health orders
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 23/01/2024 (995 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Infestations of mice and cockroaches are among the violations that resulted in the temporary closure of 31 Winnipeg restaurants by provincial health inspectors in the past six months.
Since July 2023, 11 establishments were ordered closed because of rodents, while a further 11 were shuttered due to insects, the province said in a recent report.
The list includes two longtime establishments: the Clay Oven, inside Blue Cross Park (home of the Winnipeg Goldeyes), and Bimi Japanese Restaurant (1893 Grant Ave.).
The Clay Oven, ordered closed Jan. 12, didn’t reopen until Jan. 18 because of “the presence of rodents” and other insanitary conditions, the report said.
Bimi, which had been cited for rodents and pests, was found to be preparing food in insanitary conditions.
A man who identified himself as manager of the Clay Oven had no comment Tuesday.
An employee at Bimi said a manager would call back, but no one responded by deadline.
Lincoln Poulin, president of Poulin’s Pest Control, said he usually finds mice and cockroaches are big problems at restaurants that think they are saving money by not having year-round exterminator services.
Government contract
The Manitoba government shares its legislative building with more than just opposition members and bureaucrats — there are mice in a basement tunnel and pigeons in the attic and roof.
The province wants them — as well as the occasional groundhog — gone from all its buildings.
In November, it called for bids on a new three-year contract for pest control services at the legislature (450 Broadway) and 32 other buildings and spaces it operates in Winnipeg, Headingley, Selkirk and Emerson.
The Manitoba government shares its legislative building with more than just opposition members and bureaucrats — there are mice in a basement tunnel and pigeons in the attic and roof.
The province wants them — as well as the occasional groundhog — gone from all its buildings.
In November, it called for bids on a new three-year contract for pest control services at the legislature (450 Broadway) and 32 other buildings and spaces it operates in Winnipeg, Headingley, Selkirk and Emerson.
Among them: the Law Courts, archives building (Vaughan Street), Robert Fletcher Building (Portage Avenue) and Manitoba School for the Deaf in Winnipeg, Headingley Correctional Centre, Women’s Correctional Centre, Milner Ridge Correctional Centre, Selkirk Mental Health Centre and Emerson Tourist Centre.
Most will be treated monthly by exterminators, but others — such as the Norquay Building on York Avenue — will only need monthly service from September to December, and quarterly from January to August, according to the government tender (which closed in December).
Besides mice and pigeons in the legislative building, exterminators will also be controlling ants and rodents at the School for the Deaf and silverfish and cockroaches in the main building of the Women’s Correctional Centre.
Exterminators at the Selkirk Mental Health Centre will be tasked with controlling mice and insects throughout the facility, but also may have to handle groundhogs and skunks.
A provincial spokesman confirmed this week the tender request was “a routine matter.”
“An existing pest control contract was expiring and a procurement process was initiated for a new contract,” the spokesman said, adding the successful bidder for the contract, which is usually between two to five years in length, should be known in the next few days.
— Kevin Rollason
“They don’t understand they are not saving money, but they should,” Poulin said Tuesday. “I know there are a number of restaurants without these programs in place.
“2023 was one of the worst years with mice that I’ve seen in my 25 years in pest control. We started getting calls in August, when we usually don’t get them until late September or October. How many restaurants have a patio or a loading door they prop open? This was a bad year.”
A decade ago, mice were a local problem mainly in the spring and fall, but the issue has since become year-round, he added.
As for cockroaches, Poulin said there are so many out there that customers themselves can bring an infestation into a restaurant.
“I recently heard a guy came up to a bar for a drink, put his backpack on the bar and pulled out a book to read — then a cockroach crawled out of the backpack… That’s how easy it is for pests to get in.”
Shaun Jeffrey is the executive director of the Manitoba Restaurant & Foodservices Association but spent the first decade of his career in pest control.
Jeffrey said the association tells its almost 400 members pest control is not where you want to try cutting costs. Of the 47 restaurants on the provincial health list ordered closed in Winnipeg since January 2023, only one is a member of the MRFA, he noted.
“We’ve always promoted the importance of pest control,” Jeffrey said. “It is an important part of their business. Businesses may think it is one of the things you can cut, but no, it is one of the things you need to maintain.”
Some of the restaurants on the province’s closure list lost an entire week of income before being able to reopen.
“Pest control is such a small cost compared to the cost of not having it,” Jeffrey said. “And it is detrimental to the industry as a whole. We don’t need negative publicity.”
kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca
Kevin Rollason
Reporter
Kevin Rollason was a general assignment reporter at the Free Press.
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