Have Recent Grocery Reports Changed Your Shopping Habits?

This story was posted by Jennifer Sloat. It was written by Henry Powderly. 

In the past month, a Patch report on recent state health inspections for local Smithtown supermarkets, mini-marts, convenience stores and groceries has shown that, for the most part, the area is served by clean markets.  

Of all the markets in town, Uncle Giuseppe's on Route 111 had by far the worst record for health inspections in 2012, failing inspection twice. In its September 2102 inspection, the grocer was slapped with 7 critical violations, 50 general violations and one seizure, where nearly 5 pounds of baked goods were destroyed by inspectors. Since then, the market has failed again, though for issues related to a broken cooler. 

RELATED: Another Failed Health Inspection at Uncle Giuseppe's 

But it's the "general deficiencies," issues that won't cause a market to fail but none-the-less deal with dirt, grime and unsafe worker activities that aren't exactly appetizing to think about. 

Uncle Giuseppe's has led that field, with more than 30 in its most recent inspection. 
Key Food in Kings Park also received failing grades. 

In the two inspections the market had in 2012, and its most recent inspection in January, workers from the state's Department of Agriculture and Markets slapped the Key Food market with critical violations, deemed health hazards, leading to failed inspections. Most recently, the store failed due to dirty cutting boards that had food residue caked in the scoring marks and having a hot food holding unit that wasn't reaching a high enough temperature. The market was also cited for 29 general deficiencies, not considered health risks, for issues related store cleanliness, among others.

Costco in Nesconset was cited for 19 violations, including cracked flooring, overloaded shelves and a dirty chicken rotisserie area. Stop & Shop in Smithtown and King Kullen in St. James both had 18 general violations, though Stop & Shop hasn't had an inspection since November 2011. 

FULL MAP OF INSPECTION RESULTS 

As local news source, Patch takes its role as community watchdog seriously, and only provided this public data to locals because we feel it represented a matter of public interest, even though many of the violations in town were very minor. 

So since the reports have come out, we'd like to know how it has affected you in town. Have your shopping habits changed at all? What's your perspective on the data.  

Let us know in the comments.