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News
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Doggone it, food safety campaign brings improvement
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7/21/2010
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Article Content Suggested lead
It has been a year since the Oregon Department of Agriculture unleashed a public education campaign aimed at keeping the wrong kind of domestic animals out of grocery stores. So far, the results are encouraging:
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Audio 01
The Oregon Department of Agriculture is receiving fewer complaints about pets in stores, which suggests that everyone is more aware of the law prohibiting all but service animals from entering an establishment. Posters and pamphlets distributed to stores last summer did result in some feedback to ODA:
BYBEE: "Ninety-nine percent of the response was, it's about time. We're so happy that you've decided to take on this issue. And many came from people saying, I'm a pet lover. I have three dogs, four cats, and a bird. Clearly I'm a pet lover, but I don't believe that they are appropriate to take with me to do my grocery shopping." :19
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Audio 02
Vance Bybee of ODA's Food Safety Division says the biggest change from last year is that people are talking about the issue:
BYBEE: "Prior to our campaign- posters and pamphlets- we never received any information that there was any kind of conversation going on between a store and pet owner or a store and a concerned shopper." :15
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The law allows service animals such as guide dogs access to grocery stores, but animals that don't perform a service as defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act are not supposed to be permitted in stores. Even though ODA is not taking enforcement action, it will continue its education campaign in hopes that everyone is clear on what is allowable. In Salem, I'm Bruce Pokarney.
Additional audio: Audio 03
BYBEE says the education campaign appears to be working:
"If you go on the numbers of complaints that we receive, the numbers of complaints about pets in a grocery store have gone down significantly." :10
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Additional audio: Audio 04
BYBEE says other states have been watching with interest as Oregon continues its education campaign about pets in grocery stores:
"We were the leader in this issue. We were the first state to take this on openly, publicly. We did receive calls from other states wanting information- kind of sticking their toe in the water waiting to see what would happen in Oregon." :16
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Full story
http://oregon.gov/ODA/news/100721dogs.shtml |
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