ASHFIELD — The Board of Health revoked Neighbors Convenience Store’s prepared food permit earlier this month due to problems with the temperature of a refrigeration unit and the illegal sale of nicotine products.
Board of Health Chair Evelyn Resh explained the prepared food permit was revoked during an emergency meeting on June 8 involving the three Board of Health members, Franklin Regional Council of Governments Health District Program Manager Randy Crochier and J.J. Prusak, a regional health inspector with FRCOG.
According to Resh, one of the store’s refrigeration units was unable to hold its temperature and the unit itself was past its lifespan.
In addition, the store was also in violation due to sale of nicotine products. According to Resh, Neighbors Convenience Store was selling ZYN pouches and flavored nicotine vapes, and last year, the Board of Health banned the sale of flavored tobacco products in town. According to the language of the regulation, a flavored tobacco product is “any tobacco product or component part thereof that contains a constituent that has or produces a characterizing flavor.”
The store is still able to sell pre-packaged, commercially produced foods, Resh noted.
The board has not received any calls about illness after purchasing food from Neighbors Convenience Store, but Resh emphasized that the Board of Health is in the business of the disease prevention.
“The concerns regarding the risk of a foodborne illness [had] just gotten too high,” Resh said. “In the interest of keeping our residents safe, we needed to do this. … It has been very upsetting for us.”
Attempts to reach the owner of Neighbors Convenience Store, Sawkat Wally, were unsuccessful as of Thursday morning.
At Tuesday’s Board of Health meeting, Crochier provided an update, saying that he had a received a call from Neighbors Convenience Store wanting to know what needed to be done to get the prepared food permit restored. He said the store will first need to show that it can properly preserve the food it currently sells before it gets its permit reinstated.
This is not the first time that health violations have resulted in disciplinary action at Neighbors Convenience Store. In 2023, the store was shut down by the Board of Health after inspectors found the food was not being kept at proper temperatures. An illegal apartment was also located behind the convenience store.
“It’s really important that people understand what’s going on on a level involving their community boards,” Resh said. “We don’t do this because we’re bullies.”
