This Never Would Have Happened at Marshall Field's

By Laura Oppenheimer in Food on Jul 24, 2007 1:30PM

In news that will surely give fodder to the Macy's h8rs in the house, the city closed down the lower level food court at the flagship Macy's yesterday after they found "a fruit fly infestation, water backing up from a clogged drain, a leaking sink, and grease and food debris on the walls and floor around the inside trash can."

The Health Department was there in the first place because a customer called them after becoming sick from eating a salad purchased there. They went to check it out, told Macy's what was wrong, told them to fix it, and told them they would come back. And Macy's didn't fix what was wrong. So, closed you are Macy's food court! Ha, that should teach you a lesson about how things work in the Windy City!

"Not only did they not do anything, the problems seemed to get worse," Tim Hadac, spokesman for the Chicago Department of Public Health, told the Trib. "It was a surprising and disappointing lack of adherence to basic food safety regulation. . . . We stopped counting fruit flies when they hit 200."

The food court will remain closed until its management has corrected the violations and passed re-inspection. Do note that this won't effect the Walnut Room, if you had imminent plans to go there. On August 23, Macy's food court representatives will have to go to appear at an administrative hearing and explain the failure, in addition to paying an expected $1000 fine.