DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM Dylan Tabura, 2, watched a customer grab some mushrooms yesterday as he and mom Jovy Tabura shopped at Maunakea Market in Chinatown. Department of Health officials have been distributing fliers advising Chinatown shoppers not to touch raw food with their bare hands, to prevent the spread of germs.

Stores can no longer display
meat for customers to
poke and pinch

Chinatown customers used to pinching and poking raw chicken, pork and seafood to see if the product is fresh must change their ways.

"If people want to poke fish, they must use (plastic disposable) gloves," said Laura Lott, state Department of Health spokeswoman.

State law requires raw un-packaged meat products to be behind display cases, she said.

"Customers, especially old-school ones, say they've always done this," but they could be spreading bacteria from one piece of meat to another or even to other products, she said.

Lott said the department has been trying to work on this problem for a long time, and is making a concerted effort to educate customers and merchants.

She is not aware of any illness traced to customers touching un-packaged animal foods in Chinatown, but the department wants to improve safety of food handling to prevent the possible spread of diseases, she said.

DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM Cashier Vyna Nguyen at Tom's Seafood in the Oahu Market shows a flier she was given by officials from the state Department of Health's Food and Drug Branch, who have been talking with Chinatown merchants about safe display and handling of raw foods.

"We're concerned about food being contaminated, and customers contaminated from raw food," he said.

He said inspectors have observed customers handling and squeezing chicken and putting it down. "When you have 20 people doing the same thing, that doesn't make it fresh."

When one store puts products outside of a display case, another does the same, he said.

"Nobody comes around to scold them, so pretty soon everybody is putting it out," Wong said. Inspectors might not get back right away, and "a lot can happen in a short period of time," he said.

He said Health Department inspectors have been talking to merchants every week in recent months, answering questions and monitoring progress. They understand concerns about spreading disease, but they are worried if they put their products behind a display case, "What about the other guy?" he said.

"We assured them it would be fair and uniform, and they have been very cooperative," he said.

Now the inspectors want to make sure customers understand why they cannot handle the meat anymore, he said.