A video posted on the website YouTube has raised new questions about food safety in Honolulu's Chinatown.
The video was taken by Hawaii blogger Larry Geller on the night of November 23 and shows rats frolicking on a fruit and vegetable display just inside Pacing Market on Kekaulike Street. Geller also posted the video on his website disappearednews.com.
"I was just amazed that I've been eating these things and I didn't know,” Geller told Khon2. “It was the kind of thing where you laugh because you're in such deep shock.”
At various points in the video rats can be seen leaping onto food baskets hanging just above the fruit stand as Geller narrates. “Watch this guy - there he goes; he's having fun,” Geller is heard saying.
The blogger sent a copy of the disturbing video directly to Department of Health Director Chiyome Fukino. On Wednesday morning an inspector with the Sanitation Branch visited Pacing Market and issued four citations to the owner.
The inspector found rat droppings on shelves and floors and food bags chewed open by rodents. The Health Department can issue a fine up to $1,000 per day for each violation but typically works with a business to correct any problems before levying such harsh penalties.
WIDESPREAD PROBLEM?
Pacing Market is only one business among many stalls located inside the much larger and open floor Kekaulike Market in Chinatown.
“No matter how clean those other stalls are…the rats have a complete run of the place,” said Geller. “It's kind of a shameful thing that we can't protect our food supply any better than that.”
Pacing Market owner Pacencia Edrada said rats are a problem for all of the tenants inside the property.
"Everybody not only me,” she said in broken English. “Everybody inside this market (has a rat problem).”
The Sanitation Branch inspector who cited Edrada said rats are a widespread problem in Chinatown but could not say how many markets experience infestations as serious as the one caught on tape by Mr. Geller. The inspector asked to remain anonymous.
Rats, their feces and the parasites they carry can transmit a variety of diseases including typhus.
Although the Department of Health reports no increase in the number of rodent borne diseases, Geller said a lack of nighttime inspections should raise concerns among the general public.
“Common sense tells you if you want to catch the rat you're going to have to come out at night.”
Sanitation Branch Director Rex Mitsunaga told Khon2 inspectors used to visit food establishments at night, especially in Chinatown, but budget cuts and a staff of only ten inspectors on Oahu has limited that ability.
“I’ve been asking for more funding for years,” said Mitsunaga. The Sanitation Branch has 26 inspectors statewide but two of those positions are currently vacant.
Geller believes the rat problem in Chinatown goes far beyond Pacing Market. “I don't think the problem is just here in this one little shop,” he said. “This is the only shop that happened to have its lights on at night.”
The blogger says state law needs to address rat infestations like the one he happened to catch on video just a few weeks ago.
“The public ought to be concerned about this and they ought to demand from our state government that they fix this as soon as possible.”
Have a news tip? Contact Andrew Pereira at 368-7273.
