Alberta Health Services has ordered 2 businesses in Calgary to stop selling uninspected meat

Two Calgary stores are facing actions from Alberta Health Services (AHS) after they were found storing and selling uninspected meat.

Following an inspection, Gimsap African Asian Market, located at 1829 54 Street SE, received a closure order on Thursday. Inspectors discovered a blackened cow head, sheep heads, cow hooves, and cow intestines at the location.

The store was also found to have uninspected eggs for sale.

Additional issues highlighted by the inspector included inadequate cleanliness, lack of a sanitation schedule, dim lighting in the walk-in freezer, broken sinks and cupboards, and exposed drywall.

The owners were ordered to address these problems, discard all uninspected meat, and provide documentation confirming the sources of their food before being permitted to reopen.

Another store, owned by the same individuals, was also flagged by AHS for health violations last week.

On Thursday, inspectors issued a work order for Gimsap Market NW at 2110 11 Royal Vista Drive. Issues included an uninspected blackened meat head wrapped in unlabeled plastic, along with large bags of unlabeled beef tripe, chicken, and small bags of beef neck bone and burnt cow skin in the freezer.

AHS reported that the owners could not provide invoices for the retail meat products.

Unlike the southeast location, the northwest store was allowed to stay open while addressing these issues, as per AHS guidelines.

The northwest location was also instructed to discard all uninspected meat and submit receipts or invoices for all meat products from the past three months to AHS.

According to Gimsap’s website, the southeast store is temporarily closed.

CityNews has reached out to the business for a comment.

Uninspected meat sales have been in the spotlight this year, with multiple restaurants and stores ordered to close due to similar issues.

Additionally, four Calgarians faced charges related to illegal slaughtering.