Joe’s Market, Newark, New Jersey, re-opened; Alleged plastic fish sent for analysis

 Joe’s Fish Market on South Orange Avenue, in Newark, New Jersey, United States, has been re-opened.

It was shut by the City of Newark Department of Engineering, Division of Code Enforcement, last week following alleged discovery of the sale of ‘plastic fish’ in the market.

The notice announcing the closure of the popular supermarket had said that “the premises must remain closed until such time that all violations have been abated forthwith.”

A video of a customer alerting of the sale of the alleged plastic fish had gone viral, leading to the decisive action by the Mayor Ras J. Baraka administration.

The closure of the market had disoriented many of its patrons and matrons who come from far and near to purchase all manner of household goods and edibles.

A source close to the supermarket told GPNews that the health authorities had taken the contentious fish for analysis and that when the results return, which he is sure will favor the supermarket management, they would publicize it on social media platforms for their customers to be reassured that they sell only wholesome products.

He said that they normally buy their fish from the New York fish market and that if anything went wrong, which he doubts, they would revert to the New York fish market.

He said it was possible that the customer that bought the fish did not know how to cook it well or that he left it in his car for too long in the heat, which made it to get bad, insisting that he could vouch for the integrity of all their products.

He admitted, however, that the brief closure of the market had resulted in huge losses for them and that though the authorities had officially re-opened the market, business had been slow since the re-opening, lamenting that it could take another three months for the market to again become the beehive of activities that it used to be.

When GPNews visited the market, the workers were seen wearing long faces, and, indeed, customers were few, compared to what used to be the case before the shutdown.

A patron of Joe’s Fish Market, who pleaded anonymity, commended the Mayor Ras Baraka administration of Newark City for taking prompt action in the public interest, cautioning, however, that the investigation should be thorough so that the truth of the matter would come to light.