Report: Every Boston Supermarket Handed at Least a Dozen Health Code Violations

Supermarket photo by Dean Hochman on Flickr/Creative Commons

Which grocery store do you go to? It doesn’t matter. If it’s in the city of Boston, it’s had at least 12 health code violations in the past three years.

After the Roxbury Stop & Shop temporarily closed last month due to unsanitary conditions, including dead rodents on the premises, the Boston Globe reviewed the results of inspections done at all 42 full-scale grocery stores in Boston since January 2013. You can see the full list of violations here.

Many of the errors reported are minor, such as freezer frost build-up at the West End Whole Foods and worn paint at the Stop & Shop in Jamaica Plain. Some—dead lobsters in the tank at the Hyde Park Shaw’s/Star Market, dried blood in the meat case at the Dorchester Shaw’s/Star Market, mouse droppings at Ming’s supermarket in the South End—will make you want to grow and harvest all of your own food.

Somewhat surprisingly, the West End Whole Foods had the most violations, with 127. The Globe article, however, did point out that most of that store’s flaws were relatively minor, and that large grocery stores simply have more areas that could fall victim to health problems.

Thirteen rodent-related violations have been noted since 2013. Stop & Shop in Roxbury; Stop & Shop in Jamaica Plain; America’s Food Basket in Mattapan; C-Mart in the South End; and Ming’s supermarket received those citations.

Shopping at your neighborhood farmers’ market is looking better and better.