NEW YORK Foodservice industry leaders are urging City Hall to lessen local restaurants' attraction for rats by permitting the eateries to install garbage disposals, according to local press reports. But New York's environmental-protection department has reportedly balked at the request, citing concerns about the potential hazard of churning that much solid waste through the city's sewer pipes.
Acitywide ban on garbage disposals was lifted for residences about a decade ago, but the prohibition still holds for restaurants, retailers and other businesses. Some members of the restaurant industry have asked the local government to reconsider the law, arguing that a disposal will keep more food scraps from building up in kitchens or garbage cans and attracting rats, like the ones that were videotaped inside a Taco Bell-KFC combo unit here several weeks ago.
In another development arising from that incident, several high-profile restaurants near the Taco Bell-KFC store were reportedly shut by the city health department because of sanitation-code violations. They include John's Pizzeria, a Greenwich Village landmark with a cult following. John's and at least one of the shuttered establishments have accused the city of taking action to save face in the wake of the Taco Bell-KFC situation, rather than the result of any true health risks posed by the restaurants. The combo quick-service outlet had passed a sanitation inspection the day before the rats were taped.