Ex-Employee Takes On Jb’s Foods Federal Inspectors Find 2 Packages Of Spoiled Meat At Alberta Street Store

West Central resident Diana Nelson is leading a crusade against JB’s Foods, a neighborhood grocery store she says is dumping spoiled food on shoppers in the low-income community.

“They treat people in this neighborhood like trash,” said Nelson. “Everybody I’ve talked to about these people has some horror story.”

Nelson is posting notices, talking to neighbors, contacting health agencies and taking notes.

As a result, inspectors from the U.S. Department of Agriculture checked two packages of meat at the main store on Alberta last week and found both were spoiled.

Meat packages are prepared at the Alberta store and taken to the store on Boone Avenue in West Central.

Inspectors also collected packages of meat from the Boone Avenue store, but didn’t open them.

All the meat has been sent to USDA labs in Olympia for more testing, said Sandy Leinberger, environmental health specialist in Spokane.

The results should be available in about a week, Leinberger said.

Nelson worked at JB’s Foods on Boone Avenue and Alberta Avenue for a couple of days. She said she quit in disgust.

“When the meat is past the date, the owners cook it and feed it to the people in the neighborhood,” said Nelson. “They put it in a crock pot and cook it for taco salad or other things.”

Nelson also complains that children who stop at the store before or after school to buy snacks are harassed and mistreated by store owners.

“They bully anyone in the neighborhood who looks poor or not up to their standards,” said Nelson.

Jim and Mary Jo Barach are the store owners.

Mary Jo Barach said the complaints are being spread by former employees.

“I guarantee you, they are irate clerks,” she said. “I don’t know what else it could be.”

Barach said she is considering getting rid of the fresh meat department at the store.

She blamed the spoiled meat on employees.

“I can only set the policies for these people. I can’t hold a clerk’s hand,” she said. “I can only do what I can do. No one is more careful about food than we are.”

Debra Aldrich has lived in the West Central neighborhood for several years and has stopped shopping at JB’s Foods.

“I’ve bought meat there and it’s disgusting,” said Aldrich.

Aldrich said she has seen kids harassed at the store.

“They search the kids when they leave the store. They make them stand there and empty their pockets,” said Aldrich.

“They have this thing in their head that this neighborhood isn’t worth their courtesy. I don’t know why they even bought a store in this neighborhood,” said Aldrich.

The Boone Avenue store also takes video and audio tapes of customers, according to a clerk working there.

Barach said a lot of children come to the store.

“We ask them to put their backpacks by the door and have a policy of no more than three kids in the candy aisle,” she said. “We get along very well with the children there.”

Barach said she’s worried that news of a crusade by a disgruntled employee would damage the store.

“You are going to put us out of business,” she said. “We have worked so hard to have a little store down there.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo