The Rabbit & The Restaurant

Tools

by Fox Charlotte

Story Created: Jun 14, 2011 at 8:40 PM EDT

Story Updated: Jun 14, 2011 at 10:39 PM EDT

ROCK HILL, S.C. - We were passing through the parking lot of Susie's Restaurant in Rock Hill to scan the neighboring woods for a bear trap.  Our cell phone camera recorded what any passerby could see: inches from the restaurant's dumpster were two metal poles, sunken into cement filled buckets.  There were chains attached to the poles and a man was blow torching a partially skinned rabbit hanging by its back legs.

We called the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) to find out if this was OK.  The department immediately sent out an inspector.  The violation they found: "food from an unapproved source."

DHEC spokesman Adam Myrick says, "In South Carolina, any kind of meat has to come from an approved facility, to be served in a permitted restaurant in this state."

We asked how often the department cites restaurants for this.  "Approved food" citations are combined with "sound condition" citations, so the exact numbers aren't clear.  But we did discover that in 2010, 418 restaurants in South Carolina and 32 in York County were cited for one or both of those violations.

The rabbit, the restaurant owners told us and DHEC, was given to them by a friend, not an "approved source."  They say they were cooking the animal for themselves and ended up throwing it away in front of us.  They said they only had one rabbit and invited us to look in their dumpster.

Myrick says, "What the owner was telling us that he was cooking it for his own use.  He was going to eat it sometime later."

Overall, the restaurant has a pretty good history with the health department.  FOX Charlotte obtained copies of their inspection reports dating back to 2009.  The department only keeps them on file for two years.  The restaurant never scored below an "A" rating.

Myrick says, "This is a good example of how we depend on and respond to tips and complaints from the public.  It just so happens in this case, the members of the public carry a camera and a microphone every day."
 
Susie's Restaurant will not be fined.  A note about the incident was added to its record at the health department.  If you have a concern about a South Carolina restaurant, go to www.scdhec.gov/health/envhlth/food-safety/complaint.asp 

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