Not Kosher: Inspectors Bust Chez Benny for Mice Infestation

A popular restaurant that professes to serve the "best kosher food in Montreal" has been fined for rodents and unsafe food storage, reports Le Journal de Montréal. Inspectors discovered pervasive evidence of mice feces at Chez Benny on April 30, 2014. The rodents seemed to have taken control of the basement food prep and food storage areas. Excrement was omnipresent: in a mixer, around pots of pickles, jars of sesame butter, on counter surfaces, and on plastic storage containers. The situation was not much better on the ground floor of the restaurant. "There were black and shiny feces on the shelves behind the customer service counter," wrote the inspectors.

Chez Benny's offenses went beyond pests. Inspectors also discovered that items such as mayonnaise and raw beef were stored at dangerously warm temperatures; a potentially toxic health hazard for customers. A municipal court judge has since fined Chez Benny a total of $3,300. "Everything's fine now," declared Chez Benny's owner Benjamin Cohen.