The municipality has temporarily closed the Spinneys grocery store in Porto Arabia at the Pearl-Qatar due to health violations.

In a message on the grocery chain’s Qatar Facebook page, CEO Michael Wright said:

Unfortunately there were weevils in a packet of dry pasta, the municipality have decided that the store should close for a period of time.

He added that the shop will be closed for at least a month. An employee at Spinnys store in the Mall, where all employees at the Pearl have temporarily been relocated, affirmed to Doha News that the shop will be closed through April.

The Pearl’s first Spinneys opened in January 2012. A second Spinneys is slated to open as the “flagship” supermarket in the Pearl’s Medina Central and will cover a space of 4,000 square meters (compared to the current shop’s 500 square meters).

Other health violations

Less than two weeks ago, the government also shuttered the Pearl’s upscale Thai restaurant Mango Tree for health violations. According to developer United Development Company, that eatery was closed for using food products from Thailand that exceeded the one-year Qatar Shelf Life law.

“The products were still within the product specifications, but exceeded the requirements for Doha,” UDC said in a statement to Doha News.

However, unlike Spinneys and numerous other outlets closed for health violations, Mango Tree will not be reopening.

Thoughts?

Credit: Photo courtesy of Dragos Jijau/ILoveQatar.net