The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Wholesaler takes back stock from Dowson's PORT PERRY STAR -- Tuesday, March 21, 1989 -- 3 Local stores remove Chilean fruit Dowson's Valu-Mart could have Dowson said the store im- lost $800 or more because of the bursed by its wholesaler, om overnment ban on all produce On Wednesday morning, March om Chile, but manager Ken 15, 30 cases of Chilean fruit were being kept in the store's cooler. Most of the 30 crates in Valu- Mart's cooler weren't opened. Mr. Dowson said the store received a FRY -John Kent, produce manager at Dowson's Valu-Mart, stands next to the 30 crates of produce that were pulled from the supermarket's shelves, following the federal government's ban on all Chilean produce. Fortunately, Valu-Mart was reimbursed by its wholesaler for the shipment of grapes and othe . story for detalls. P grape r fruit. See 139 WATER ST. . 6 HIGH STREET PORT PERRY DORT PERRY auto glass & trim WITH THIS COUPON ERY R i 985-8507 - MOBILE SERVICE - GUARANTEED WORKMANSHIP shipment Monday night March 13, the day Ottawa halted imports of all Chilean fruits and vegeta- bles. The order was issued after United States inspectors found two seedless red grapes from Chile had been laced. \ with a small amount of the deadly poison cya- nide. On Tuesday morning by 8 a.m., the Valu-Mart shelves were emp- tied of all existing Chilean pro- duce. Green, red and black grapes, honeydew melons, Granny Smith apples and s were all moved to the cooler for storage. But later on Wednesday night, the wholesaler took back all 30 cases and reimbursed Valu-Mart for the entire amount. Many other grocery store owners were not so ortunate. Some are claiming they might lose their businesses. The ban was lifted Friday March 17 on certain Chilean fruit, in- cluding grapes, while it remained in effect for others the government considers easier to doctor with poison. Mr. Dowson said he has had a few phone calls from customers, anxious about fruit, especially grapes, they had purchased from the store, previous to the ban. To be on the safe side, Mr. Dowson suggested they toss the fruit out. nly a small percentage of pro- duce at Valu-Mart and at other stores throughout Canada comes from Chile. The federal govern- ment first suggested that as much as 70 per cent of the produce in Canadian stores could be from Chile. N But food industry spokesmen vehemently denied the claim, say- ing that, at most, Chilean produce represents seven per cent. At Valu-Mart, the majority of produce at this time of year hails from the United States. Fresh vegetables and most types of fruit were unaffected by the ban. John Kent, produce manager at Valu-Mart, said grapes would be the most difficult fruit to find from sources other than Chile. But he thought it wouldn't be any problem finding other suppliers for pears, Granny Smith apples, and melons. Some grapes might be available from California, but Mr. Kent guessed they would be in short supply and in great de- mand, and thus would be extreme- ly high priced. Until he was reimbursed for the Chilean fruit, Mr. Dowson said he was waiting to hear more from the C.F.I.G. about the possiblity of being reimbursed by the federal overnment for money lost by the an. But according to newspaper re- ports last weck, the question of compensation for merchants was not even under consideration by Health Minister Perrin Beatty. One ministry official was quoted as saying there was little likeli- hood of any of the banned produce being salvaged. At the Port Perry IGA, there were several bare spots on the pro- duce department shelves Wednes- day moming. A sign advertising nectarines, product of Chile, was posted above a conspicuously empty table. Later in the day the shelves were filled with other pro- duce. Manager Jim Grieve was on va- cation last week and couldn't be reached for comment. Sam Crystal of the Oshawa Food Group (of which the IGA is a member) was also unavailable. Even though Valu-Mart could have lost more than $800 because of the ban, other stores in Canada are paying a much higher price, especially those that specialize in fresh produce. A spokesman for a large fruit market in Toronto complained that his store would suffer a $10,000 loss. The whole problem with Chile- an produce was first heard of when a U.S. embassy in Santiago re- ceived a call from an anonymous caller, who threatened all exported fruit would be poisoned to call at- tention to the sufferering of Chile's people. : Ironically, it will probably be the people of Chile who suffer the most from this incident, people who depend on the €xport of pro- duce for their livelihood. An representative from the Chi- lean embassy accused Canadian and American government offi- cials of acting rashly and too quickly in calling for the intial to- tal ban. SALES & SERVICE on our complete line of QUALITY PRODUCTS. 1908 SIMCOE STREET NORTH, OSHAWA (Just south of Durham College) MON. to FRI. 10 to 6; SAT. 10 to 3 433-8046 THE REGIONAL MUNICIPALITY w OF DURHAM NOTICE OF LANDFILL CLOSURE The SCUGOG LANDFILL SITE will close permanently on March 31, 1989. Facilities to accept residential household refuse ONLY will be provided at that site starting on April 1, 1989. The hours of operation will remain unchanged at: Monday to Friday -- 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM Saturday -- 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM W.A. TWELVETREES, P.ENG., COMMISSIONER OF WORKS tg rc IN SA er ete an IL re SP anes cera WE A a a & & i 3 3 &