Pic of unwrapped raw pork being delivered in a shopping cart sparks outrage

 A supermarket in San Jose, Calif., is apologizing after a photo of shopping carts loaded with raw pork being delivered to its store hit the internet.

Loretta Seto was outside the 99 Ranch Market when she saw two men in yellow slickers hauling unwrapped meat they had loaded into Costco shopping carts into the supermarket. She took out her phone and snapped a photo, which she later shared on Facebook:

“Beware: Costco shopping carts (Automation Parkway in San Jose) We were at the 99 Ranch Market across from this Costco and saw their vendors delivering meat with Costco shopping carts!! Talk about disgusting! I’m usually okay with sticking the kids in the seat of the basket, but this is a whole new level of gross. Beware.” wrote Seto.

The Santa Clara County Department of Environmental Health received a complaint about an unauthorized pork delivery to the market and say it will investigate the matter.

The vendor who delivered the meat has been identified as Jim’s Farm Meat Co. Inc. Maria Moon, the office manager for the company, spoke to the Modesto Bee about the incident: “We are thoroughly investigating the incident,” she said in a telephone interview. “This isn’t anything we typically do. When we send our products out, they are always in a combo bin and wrapped. That’s how it left our facility.”

Moon also said that the two employees in the photo have been fired.

99 Ranch Market replied directly to Seto’s photo, saying: “99 Ranch Market is committed to food safety and customer satisfaction. In addition to an investigation and filing a complaint, we immediately discarded on-hand inventories of the related pork products. Again, thank you for your patience and understanding. We’ll continue to take all necessary steps to resolve this issue with our customers in mind.”

The Santa Clara County Department of Environmental Health have also issued a statement saying that “immediate steps” will be taken to ensure food safety in the community. “Other regulatory and oversight agencies, including those at the federal and state level, shall be notified as appropriate,” according to the statement.

Seto, however, believes that without proper oversight, the same could happen again. “I feel their apology wasn’t strong enough to address the issue,” Seto told the Mercury News. She said she’ would continue to buy packaged items from the store, “but definitely not their meat.”