As fond as I am of cats, I can see that having one in a food store is a bit problematical. Same with a dog.

I am very fond of bookstores and libraries with resident cats.

It does have an addition allowing registered support animals. Almost every day I shop there I see some idiot bringing in their dog on a leash, clearly not a real "support animal" such as a seeing eye dog. Some of them even have the dog riding in the grocery cart.

I asked a manager about it and he said it is a real problem. The law prohibits it, he told me, and it is certainly not the best thing in terms of healthy practice, but if he talks to the customer about it they become irate and he risks losing a customer. He did say that he tries to keep an eye out and take a cart out of service when a dog has been riding in it. That's today's shopper - become irate and threaten to boycott a store because the manager asks you to follow the law.

Taking exception to a cat hanging out in a general store seems excessively fastidious.

I think that if customers are aware that an animal is an eating area, then the customer should step up and clean the area before consuming any food.

If the complainant has allergies to animals, then I can understand why they would file a complaint. Otherwise, it is likely that the complaint is retaliatory rather than out of concern for food safety.

There was a library somewhere which was being forced to evict a cat. I don't recall the details, but someone complained about the cat which had hung out in this small town library and was widely admired and adored. The law said it had to go and massive outcry ensued, "keep the cat." I think the cat lovers prevailed.