Camarillo Officials Explain Doughnut Crackdown

County officials say they weren’t trying to go whole hog when they ordered a local hardware store to stop giving away barbecue, coffee and doughnuts—they simply wanted to protect the public from dangerous food.

Last week the Environmental Health Department instructed B&B Do It Center, a hardware store in Camarillo, to stop giving away food because it did not have the proper permits or meet the health and safety standards in place.

The hardware store has been giving away coffee and doughnuts to customers free of charge for more than seven years and recently began giving away barbecue samples to promote the store’s new barbecue smoker. Environmental Health Director Bob Gallagher said the agency then came under fire nationwide as the story became public.

For more on this story, visit the Ventura County Star.