New Britain's Banned Movable Feast

Some 20 years ago, New Britain took a very tough and possibly novel stance against salad bars because of health concerns.

In the mid-1980s, a grocery store chain, Edwards, opened a big store at the site that is now the home of the dollar discount store pictured above. This was a big deal for the city and was seen as major boost for the city's downtown. It wasn't a typical grocery store for that time. There were farmer’s market-like barrels with grains and peanuts that customers scooped into bags. It served hot food and had a salad bar as well.

While grocery store salad bars weren't unknown in the mid-1980s, they were still new enough to get special consideration from the city's health department. The city's health inspectors took keen interest in customer behavior, and especially troubling for them was the practice of some customers, and children especially, to pick at the salad bar. Health inspectors also checked the food temperatures of salad bar items.

It wasn't long after the store opened that the city's health director worried about the health consequences and moved to restrict what could be sold at salad bars. The city's aggressive action received much attention, and the steps it took may have been unique.

The New York Times, in a story about the salad bar trend (The Salad Bar: A Boom in the Movable Feast, August 13, 1986), cited New Britain’s salad bar law as one the most restrictive in tri-state area. According to NYT:

New York State's regulations are much like those in Connecticut and New Jersey but seem positively lax when compared with the local law passed by New Britain,Conn., in 1985. There, self-service of potentially hazardous foods was prohibited. The result was salad bars without dishes containing meat, fish, poultry, eggs or dairy products. Most salad bars in New Britain closed rather than comply.

The Edwards salad bar was removed, and in time so where the scoop barrels.