Anyone know anything more about the red meat counter being closed down? It says its due to some health and safety violation and one of the staff said it will be closed for a month. I have eaten meat from there loads of times and a bit concerned!
I recall a case study from uni where two epidemiologists studied respiratory hypersensitivity in East and West Germany in 1990 and 1991. The idea was that ethnically the two sample sets should be identical, but the environments in which the children grew up were different.
Here's the abstract:
We assessed the prevalence of asthma and allergic disorders in 9–11 year old children in Leipzig and Halle in East Germany, and Munich, West Germany. Both East German cities were heavily polluted due to private coal burning and industrial emissions, whereas Munich has moderate industry but heavy car traffic. All fourth grade pupils in Munich (n = 7445) were compared with those in Leipzig, 1990 (n = 1429) and Leipzig and Halle, 1991 (n = 3105). The prevalence of hay fever and skin test reactivity to common aeroallergens was considerably higher in West Germany as compared to East Germany. Furthermore, the prevalence of asthma was also higher in the West German study area. However, when atopy was taken into account, there was no longer a significant difference in the prevalence of asthma between the two parts of the country.
If you read the whole article (not free online unfortunately) the basic findings were that children who grew up exposed to some dirt and grime had better resistance to them, and were overall healthier than the kids whose well meaning parents ran after them with hand sanitizers, surface disinfectants, anti-bacterial swabs etc etc.
Such parents probably mean well, but they end up doing their children long term harm.
Rah, exposing children to certain bacteria actually strengthens the immune system, and using all the anti-bacterial agents actually kill more good bacteria than harmful ones.
I do believe my post said licking a bathroom sink is not advisable?
Home is Canada, and hospitals are one of the top places for harmful bacteria in the world.
I also never suggested that you feed your children tainted meat (did I?), my suggestion is that in an over sanitized world it leaves more to debate in terms of beneficial bacteria as opposed to harmful (in certain amounts).
Excuse me, as I am too daft to have children I guess I should go dip the ones I have in Chlorox before we head out..
seriously... exposing kids to bacteria is not a good idea. and a public bathroom sink is likely the best way to make them seriously ill.
I think you are confusing the idea of exposing kids to other kids with childhood illness such as measles, chickenpox to train their immune system.
things can be bad back home ( wherever you call it) but they usally have some standards and some food health training.
tainted meat is not a joke when it comes to food poisoning.
think about this. if you go to a good hospital with food poisoning from meat, they should ask you if it was chicken. Because if it is, then you are in trouble .poultry chicken is the most bacteria ridden meat that we eat( exception is bush meat) because many anitbiotics are not effective against bacteria from chicken.
Have to agree with the folks who thinks we live in a world that fears bacteria to a point we are probably doing ourselves more harm than good.
Hand sanitizers, anti-bacterial this and that is all a bunch of nonesense. i am in now way suggesting you should let your kids go out and lick public bathroom sinks but I do believe they need to build up a bit of resistance.
I buy meat in all the Carrefours and have never had any issue. I can assure you that even back home you will find some horrendous things, right down to stored washing expired neats in Chlorox and repackaging it.
I have found several times the soft french cheese to have a shelf life( best by date) that is 2 weeks away and yet it already has that pungent ammonia smell of over ripe cheese. I suspect they don't store it properly either.
This guy is the closest to the middle East I could find........ (so far)
Mr. Thierry Garnier
, Executive Director in charge of South East Asia (Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand), European countries (Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, Turkey), Russia, India and the International Partnerships Department.
I actually witnessed a Megamart employee place back in th freezer a box of ice cream rolls which had been outside and were melted.
Melted ice cream should NEVER be re-frozen as it can make you very ill.
So even though Megamart is by far the most expensive supermarket here.......it's the uneducated employees that tarnish the image.
Carrefour is the same. I NEVER see the french manager around. Stock taking is never properly done, so certain items are not available for MONTHS at a time!
And to top it all off, the trolleys that have the baby seat in them are ALL broken and really dirty.
It's a case of everyone (including the french management) not wanting to do their job.
Why not get a petition going to send to Carrefour headquarters? To make sure they intervene.
How will dettol ever sell anti bacterial hand wipes without creating a culture of fear?
Frankly I'm more scared of the long term effects of anti-bacterial surface sprays, anti-septic soaps and pausterized everything on my health than I am about the occassional germ, bacteria and flu.
Drug resistent bacteria strains now kill more people in the US than HIV does, and most of that can be traced to the use of anti-biotics introduced to farm animals, and given to children when they have colds.
Yes I have seen it shut every day for the last three days including today. Not sure about what sort of brainless person would make up such a thing. My concern was purely as a new expat here and whether this was common if there are better places to buy meat etc etc....sorry 24 fans...no conspiracy here, I am not the head butcher at megmart or anything!
I know jeaux90 personally, so if she did see the counter closed down then I certainly believe her :o)
I also agree with penny with respect to the fact that we should not expect to live in a sterile bubble. It is amazing to me how much the media affects our perceptions.
According to the media, we should be shivering with fear because of all the Dangerous And Horrible Germs That Will Hurt You And You Children.
We obviously want to avoid infected meat and whatnot, but the obsession with everything being sterile is truly over the top.
It is normal i ve seen meat sections closed in other supermarkets, even KFC - Kharatiyat was sealed by the municipality, but is it going to make people stop veing KFC? and many other major restaurants in Al Sadd, every were.
But to be frank i have heard story from a restaurant staff that once health officials were about to close their shop and by chance their sponsor was there and he didn't let it happen,he insisted strongly the checking official that he shouldn't close so those kinda incidents also can happen.
it happened to many reputable restaurants and supermarkets already. Few months later they are open for business as usual. If you would keep track of all there would be no place to eat or shop in Doha. Keep in mind some violations are not directly health related such as missing hair nets, incomplete paper work of some employees and so one.
I do believe that's the kind of thing that can not be avoid, everywhere you will find flies, cockcroach and even dead rats and thats beyaond our control. No place on earth that you will find free insects.Duhhhhhhhh????????????
how come the free media in Qatar missed this one.they never report such incidents.I don't think there is any official ban. maybe the media wants to keep the revenue stream strong and don't want to make these advertisers angry. So much for independent and free media..
The Carrefour meat counter was closed down when the Health Inspector discovered a hoard of smelly labourers buzzing around a goat caracass. Carrefour management has assured us the counter will open shortly as soon as installation of man-sized electric zappers was complete.
yes i personally know the people who were involved in the CC case two years ago. they were shut down for some time, and the people involved were subject to the law.
megamart's poultry section was also shut down before. the notice said that they failed to meet hygiene and food safety standards.
of course, the large supermarkets are subject to more frequent inspections than the smaller ones. i've not heard of megamart repeating the same offense. they must have done quite a good corrective action.
but CC carrefour repeating its violation says a lot.
"The closure is probably for not meeting health and safety standards, but if you cook the meat thoroughly (as you should be if you're pregnant!) then you should be fine."
BUT (and it's a big but!) if the food is infected with Staphylococci, then the bacteria, as they grow, release a toxin into the food. This happens even at refrigerator temperature.
Cooking will kill the original bacteria infection, but it will not remvoe the toxin, and it is the toxin that makes you sick.
Meat is checked for being halal on import into the country - it has to have all the correct certificates and stamps. It would never make it to the supermarkets.
Is it in city centre the subway and cake shop next to it are closed and have stickers all over them - what happened there? could the same thing happen if non halal meet was being sold?
I do know about the closure of Hot Bread Bakery famous for baked bread products on Najma street closed for over 2 months. The closure is usually for a month as a penalty for violating health and hygiene norms by Baladiya(Municipality).
Hey Maa look at me....what no one wants to see....much too young to focus but too old to see!
There really is no other alternative. Just cook the meat well and everything will be alright. Since you are 6weeks off from having a baby, I suggest you consult your doctor for any other food aside from meat. Your baby's health should be your top priority now.
The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy....Martin Luther King
Yep, I've seen it on several shops and restaurants before, as well as the supermarkets. I remember the deli counter at villagio carrefour was shut for a month.
in Mattar Al Qadeem. Which is a very popular restaurant, despite that they closed that restaurant for one month and Doha Municipality pasted several sticker of violation warning..
Shop where ever is open jeaux - megamart, the other carrefours, anywhere really. Theoretically if it hasn't been shut down then it's ok. Having said that, it could just be that they haven't inspected it recently. But there's no reason to suspect that megamart would be any better than carrefour.
This is their second offense, I remember they had the same issues with the ministry of health two years ago. That was in City Center if i'm not mistaken.
These things happen from time to time in the big supermarkets in Qatar. I remember several instances during my time here, not always with the meat counter. Personally I just think that it's good to know that checks are being made a shut-down orders issued.
Its the CC Carrefour, and I was also surprised not to see it in the papers to be honest. If that happened back in the UK it would be all over the news. So what do people recommemend then? Stick to megamart?
Sad to say but news such as these will never be published on local newspapers. Carrefour management is wise enough not to put their store in a limbo. Carrefour will always be Carrefour. Competition is stiff here in Qatar.
The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy....Martin Luther King
The closure is probably for not meeting health and safety standards, but if you cook the meat thoroughly (as you should be if you're pregnant!) then you should be fine.
I am pretty new here so can you expand on the again thing please? And if there are general concerns about this am I better off just buying meat and fish from Megamart for example? I am 6 weeks off having a baby, so really want to know if there are genuine health concerns about Carrefour meat.
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I'm with Amoud.
I recall a case study from uni where two epidemiologists studied respiratory hypersensitivity in East and West Germany in 1990 and 1991. The idea was that ethnically the two sample sets should be identical, but the environments in which the children grew up were different.
Here's the abstract:
We assessed the prevalence of asthma and allergic disorders in 9–11 year old children in Leipzig and Halle in East Germany, and Munich, West Germany. Both East German cities were heavily polluted due to private coal burning and industrial emissions, whereas Munich has moderate industry but heavy car traffic. All fourth grade pupils in Munich (n = 7445) were compared with those in Leipzig, 1990 (n = 1429) and Leipzig and Halle, 1991 (n = 3105). The prevalence of hay fever and skin test reactivity to common aeroallergens was considerably higher in West Germany as compared to East Germany. Furthermore, the prevalence of asthma was also higher in the West German study area. However, when atopy was taken into account, there was no longer a significant difference in the prevalence of asthma between the two parts of the country.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6TCR-3W0FBNM-K&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=a2d065e93642edbea75e9e8613a1cdf1
If you read the whole article (not free online unfortunately) the basic findings were that children who grew up exposed to some dirt and grime had better resistance to them, and were overall healthier than the kids whose well meaning parents ran after them with hand sanitizers, surface disinfectants, anti-bacterial swabs etc etc.
Such parents probably mean well, but they end up doing their children long term harm.
Don't do that, Amoud. . .they're much too cute to be bleached out. Just hand them over to me and no one will get hurt :op
Rah, exposing children to certain bacteria actually strengthens the immune system, and using all the anti-bacterial agents actually kill more good bacteria than harmful ones.
I do believe my post said licking a bathroom sink is not advisable?
Home is Canada, and hospitals are one of the top places for harmful bacteria in the world.
I also never suggested that you feed your children tainted meat (did I?), my suggestion is that in an over sanitized world it leaves more to debate in terms of beneficial bacteria as opposed to harmful (in certain amounts).
Excuse me, as I am too daft to have children I guess I should go dip the ones I have in Chlorox before we head out..
_____________________________________________________
"Diplomacy is the art of saying 'Nice doggie' until you can find a rock - Will Rogers"
Amoud
maybe best you don't have kids then
seriously... exposing kids to bacteria is not a good idea. and a public bathroom sink is likely the best way to make them seriously ill.
I think you are confusing the idea of exposing kids to other kids with childhood illness such as measles, chickenpox to train their immune system.
things can be bad back home ( wherever you call it) but they usally have some standards and some food health training.
tainted meat is not a joke when it comes to food poisoning.
think about this. if you go to a good hospital with food poisoning from meat, they should ask you if it was chicken. Because if it is, then you are in trouble .poultry chicken is the most bacteria ridden meat that we eat( exception is bush meat) because many anitbiotics are not effective against bacteria from chicken.
Have to agree with the folks who thinks we live in a world that fears bacteria to a point we are probably doing ourselves more harm than good.
Hand sanitizers, anti-bacterial this and that is all a bunch of nonesense. i am in now way suggesting you should let your kids go out and lick public bathroom sinks but I do believe they need to build up a bit of resistance.
I buy meat in all the Carrefours and have never had any issue. I can assure you that even back home you will find some horrendous things, right down to stored washing expired neats in Chlorox and repackaging it.
_____________________________________________________
"Diplomacy is the art of saying 'Nice doggie' until you can find a rock - Will Rogers"
maybe they should inspect their dairy as well.
I have found several times the soft french cheese to have a shelf life( best by date) that is 2 weeks away and yet it already has that pungent ammonia smell of over ripe cheese. I suspect they don't store it properly either.
Dry goods only from C4 from now on.
if you want to be safe when it comes to meat you should buy to Carrefour or other Hypermarkets and i am surely that it is clean & fresh...
I agree with pennypitstop, I have been buying my meat at carrefoure.Local tender lion cheaper than Australian or New Zeland and never get sick.
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with this situation and hearsays... probably Ministry's Regulatory Compliance has been barred...
>
for your information.... Carrefour recently got the HACCP ...
and if you look to the other shopping centers in Qatar....you will see that the most clean butchery in Qatar is in Carrefour....
go to Dasman or meera or whatever you want and notice the difference....
common ..you want to eat something healthy ...or you want to watch it only..
http://www.carrefourqatar.com/newsite/carrefourqatar/English/default.aspx
This guy is the closest to the middle East I could find........ (so far)
Mr. Thierry Garnier
, Executive Director in charge of South East Asia (Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand), European countries (Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, Turkey), Russia, India and the International Partnerships Department.
Lets sign and send the petition to him..........
I was surprised yesterday to see it sealed and shut down..
Last year giant Stores Ras Abou Abboud had the same issue, the year before, it was Carrefour...
but this will not stop me from buying from them. At the contrary, I think that now they should be more cautious than others and thus more reliable.
I actually witnessed a Megamart employee place back in th freezer a box of ice cream rolls which had been outside and were melted.
Melted ice cream should NEVER be re-frozen as it can make you very ill.
So even though Megamart is by far the most expensive supermarket here.......it's the uneducated employees that tarnish the image.
Carrefour is the same. I NEVER see the french manager around. Stock taking is never properly done, so certain items are not available for MONTHS at a time!
And to top it all off, the trolleys that have the baby seat in them are ALL broken and really dirty.
It's a case of everyone (including the french management) not wanting to do their job.
Why not get a petition going to send to Carrefour headquarters? To make sure they intervene.
Expat,
How will dettol ever sell anti bacterial hand wipes without creating a culture of fear?
Frankly I'm more scared of the long term effects of anti-bacterial surface sprays, anti-septic soaps and pausterized everything on my health than I am about the occassional germ, bacteria and flu.
Drug resistent bacteria strains now kill more people in the US than HIV does, and most of that can be traced to the use of anti-biotics introduced to farm animals, and given to children when they have colds.
By the way it is the cc one...maybe ms pitstop went to villagio or landmark.
Yes I have seen it shut every day for the last three days including today. Not sure about what sort of brainless person would make up such a thing. My concern was purely as a new expat here and whether this was common if there are better places to buy meat etc etc....sorry 24 fans...no conspiracy here, I am not the head butcher at megmart or anything!
I was just asking jeaux if actually seen it shut or if someone told her, because someone has now said they've seen it and it's open.
I know jeaux90 personally, so if she did see the counter closed down then I certainly believe her :o)
I also agree with penny with respect to the fact that we should not expect to live in a sterile bubble. It is amazing to me how much the media affects our perceptions.
According to the media, we should be shivering with fear because of all the Dangerous And Horrible Germs That Will Hurt You And You Children.
We obviously want to avoid infected meat and whatnot, but the obsession with everything being sterile is truly over the top.
Expat Sueño
Last time Carefour Villagio closed was due to rodents
-----------------
HE WHO DARES WINS
Well said Penny.
jeaux - did you actually see the counter closed down?
Not Again !!
I have also heard 'stories' of perfectly good places shut down.
My thoughts are my own, but I doubt my Mum would agree with some of them.
It is normal i ve seen meat sections closed in other supermarkets, even KFC - Kharatiyat was sealed by the municipality, but is it going to make people stop veing KFC? and many other major restaurants in Al Sadd, every were.
But to be frank i have heard story from a restaurant staff that once health officials were about to close their shop and by chance their sponsor was there and he didn't let it happen,he insisted strongly the checking official that he shouldn't close so those kinda incidents also can happen.
it happened to many reputable restaurants and supermarkets already. Few months later they are open for business as usual. If you would keep track of all there would be no place to eat or shop in Doha. Keep in mind some violations are not directly health related such as missing hair nets, incomplete paper work of some employees and so one.
_________________________________________
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I do believe that's the kind of thing that can not be avoid, everywhere you will find flies, cockcroach and even dead rats and thats beyaond our control. No place on earth that you will find free insects.Duhhhhhhhh????????????
CMG
sorry but this is just hype and super hype. Was in Carrefour today and they sold me red meat.
No restaurant is free from bacteria. Nobody is, even at home.
How many of us really if we are to be honest clean our fridge every day?
How many of you allow raw chicken to touch a surface in your kitchen or you house for that matter.
Shall we all live in sterile balloons?
This is rubbish.
I think this closure (if it is true and it was not at 1.45 pm today) is political not anything to do with hygiene.
My thoughts are my own, but I doubt my Mum would agree with some of them.
how come the free media in Qatar missed this one.they never report such incidents.I don't think there is any official ban. maybe the media wants to keep the revenue stream strong and don't want to make these advertisers angry. So much for independent and free media..
The Carrefour meat counter was closed down when the Health Inspector discovered a hoard of smelly labourers buzzing around a goat caracass. Carrefour management has assured us the counter will open shortly as soon as installation of man-sized electric zappers was complete.
In most cases sufficient cooking is adequate to reduce the risk of food poisoning.
After living here for a few years most people become quite hardy when it comes to these sorts of things.
yes i personally know the people who were involved in the CC case two years ago. they were shut down for some time, and the people involved were subject to the law.
megamart's poultry section was also shut down before. the notice said that they failed to meet hygiene and food safety standards.
of course, the large supermarkets are subject to more frequent inspections than the smaller ones. i've not heard of megamart repeating the same offense. they must have done quite a good corrective action.
but CC carrefour repeating its violation says a lot.
Agreed fubar, that's why I said "should be fine", because it is a "big but". Perhaps I should have made it clearer that there's still some risk.
Tallg,
Just a minor correction. You say:
"The closure is probably for not meeting health and safety standards, but if you cook the meat thoroughly (as you should be if you're pregnant!) then you should be fine."
BUT (and it's a big but!) if the food is infected with Staphylococci, then the bacteria, as they grow, release a toxin into the food. This happens even at refrigerator temperature.
Cooking will kill the original bacteria infection, but it will not remvoe the toxin, and it is the toxin that makes you sick.
Meat is checked for being halal on import into the country - it has to have all the correct certificates and stamps. It would never make it to the supermarkets.
Is it in city centre the subway and cake shop next to it are closed and have stickers all over them - what happened there? could the same thing happen if non halal meet was being sold?
np
I do know about the closure of Hot Bread Bakery famous for baked bread products on Najma street closed for over 2 months. The closure is usually for a month as a penalty for violating health and hygiene norms by Baladiya(Municipality).
Hey Maa look at me....what no one wants to see....much too young to focus but too old to see!
There really is no other alternative. Just cook the meat well and everything will be alright. Since you are 6weeks off from having a baby, I suggest you consult your doctor for any other food aside from meat. Your baby's health should be your top priority now.
The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy....Martin Luther King
Yep, I've seen it on several shops and restaurants before, as well as the supermarkets. I remember the deli counter at villagio carrefour was shut for a month.
in Mattar Al Qadeem. Which is a very popular restaurant, despite that they closed that restaurant for one month and Doha Municipality pasted several sticker of violation warning..
Shop where ever is open jeaux - megamart, the other carrefours, anywhere really. Theoretically if it hasn't been shut down then it's ok. Having said that, it could just be that they haven't inspected it recently. But there's no reason to suspect that megamart would be any better than carrefour.
This is their second offense, I remember they had the same issues with the ministry of health two years ago. That was in City Center if i'm not mistaken.
These things happen from time to time in the big supermarkets in Qatar. I remember several instances during my time here, not always with the meat counter. Personally I just think that it's good to know that checks are being made a shut-down orders issued.
Its the CC Carrefour, and I was also surprised not to see it in the papers to be honest. If that happened back in the UK it would be all over the news. So what do people recommemend then? Stick to megamart?
Sad to say but news such as these will never be published on local newspapers. Carrefour management is wise enough not to put their store in a limbo. Carrefour will always be Carrefour. Competition is stiff here in Qatar.
The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy....Martin Luther King
Yea the Ministry hav found a Mosquitoe flying over the Meat, and blood oozing out from the beef meet ...!!
which location? Villaggio/City Center/Landmark...or they closed all? Sounds a serious matter:-(
Sorry, but it is news like this that should be in the local papers. Maybe someone has read about this. I didn't see anything.
The closure is probably for not meeting health and safety standards, but if you cook the meat thoroughly (as you should be if you're pregnant!) then you should be fine.
Which Carrefour is this?
I am pretty new here so can you expand on the again thing please? And if there are general concerns about this am I better off just buying meat and fish from Megamart for example? I am 6 weeks off having a baby, so really want to know if there are genuine health concerns about Carrefour meat.
Again? Yuck. Have never bought meat from there, never will.