Elizabeth Licata of the Daily Meal writes a London bakery was fined over $200,000 for failing to meet hygiene
Credit: Enfield Council
Between the tennis racket and the host of other health and hygiene violations, the Enfield Council fined the directors of the two bakeries £152,823, or $201,970.
Ruairi Byrne of Buzz writes the owner of an Indian takeaway in Donegal has issued an apology to customers after a ‘pond of poo’ was discovered in the restaurant’s kitchen.
Saffron in Creeslough was served a closure order on October 19 by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland following an inspection which found “human excrement overflowing and ponding in an area beside the shed in which the potato peeler was located due to an overflowing manhole”.
“As staff had to stand outside while using this food equipment, they would be standing in the excrement, thereby carrying it into the food premises on their shoes,” the closure order stated.
Dead flies were also found “floating in oil used to baste pizza dough”, according to the closure.
“I would like to say sorry,” Mr Kumar told Independent.ie. “When this happened, me and the manager were out of the country for a few weeks. First of all I was told about that human waste issue.
“By chance, that day, the drain got blocked and it was our bad luck. Now we have sorted this. We stopped making chips there and now we get prepacked chips.
Mr Kumar continued: “We have fulfilled all the requirements of the FSAI now. Last week and this week a health inspector was here. They are now satisfied. I again apologise for what happened and I would like to make sure that it will never happen again.”
Three Sydney noodle manufacturing businesses have been collectively fined more than $150,000 in relation to various food safety and hygiene failures under the Food Act 2003 and the Food Standards Code following a targeted project by the NSW Food Authority designed to address a high-risk food sector where compliance was less than satisfactory.
The “Fresh Noodle Manufacturers Project” was designed to improve standards in the fresh noodle industry after the Food Authority became aware of compliance issues within the sector.
Over a period of four months NSW Food Authority officers conducted 25 inspections where they considered the use of preservatives, process and hygiene control, product labelling and temperature control.
The resulting enforcement activity included three prosecutions where one company was fined $11,000 and its director fined $2,800, a second company was fined $27,000 and the most recent result saw a Sydney manufacturer plead guilty to 19 charges and fined $113,000.
Dr Lisa Szabo, NSW Food Authority CEO, said while the wider community may not recognise noodles as a high-risk food, the intrinsic properties of fresh noodles mean that if they’re not kept within careful temperature control they become a breeding ground for the growth of microorganisms that can cause food poisoning.
“The NSW Food Authority is committed to ensuring people buying and eating food in NSW can do so with confidence and certainty that what they’re eating is safe,” Dr Szabo said.
“We target our efforts of investigation and risk management to where they are most needed in order to best protect the public and also reduce regulatory burden on those industry sectors who have a proven record of doing the right thing.”
The NSW Government’s Food Safety Strategy 2015-2021 has a goal of reducing foodborne illness by 30% by 2021 and a compliance target of 95% for all food businesses with food safety requirements.
Niamh Towey of The Irish Times writes that an Indian restaurant in Co Donegal was served a food closure order last month after a pond of human excrement was found in an area where staff were preparing food.
An overflowing manhole had resulted in the pond of human excrement gathering beside a shed where the potato peeler was stored at Saffron restaurant and takeaway in Creeslough.
A report from the Food Safety Authority of Ireland said “human excrement was overflowing and ponding in an area beside the shed in which the potato peeler was located due to an overflowing manhole”.
It goes on to say staff “would be standing in the excrement” while using the potato peeler and thereby “carrying it into the food premises on their shoes”.
The report also found “dirt, mould and encrusted food” on windows, in sinks and on floors and doors throughout the premesis, while “food storage containers in the fridge were covered with black mould”.
A Chinese restaurant has exterminated a large rat after a video of the rodent in the shopfront window went viral yesterday.
The family business in Minto, NSW, has reassured the community the rat’s appearance was a freak incident after a resident’s video was shared hundreds of times in the space of hours, reported the Macarthur Chronicle.
Restaurant owner Emily Tang said the rat likely rushed through the door from the street at the start of the day.
“I opened the door and it maybe came from the streets, trying to get into the kitchen,” she said.
“Every night we close the door, put down material at the door to stop the rats. We have never ever had any rats like this before.
“We called the pest control man straight away and got rid of the rat. We have always had a good record with the health inspector.”
Charlie Bayliss of the Daily Mail writes that horrific footage has surfaced of a Subway manager taking bread from a bin to serve to customers.
Not sure it is horrific, but another reminder that everyone has a camera.
A concerned employee who had reservations about the food hygiene practices at the Central Park Subway in Rugby, Warwickshire, filmed the video earlier this year.
In the undercover footage, the unnamed manager reaches into the bin to pull out some bread after telling an employee: ‘We are already short of bread.’
The manager then places the binned bread onto a trolley before rolling it out of a back room.
Following the release of the video, Rugby Council sent an environmental health officer to the store where a number of food hygiene concerns were found.
A spokesperson for Subway said: ‘Subway stores have very strict food safety and hygiene procedures to ensure that customers are served products to a high standard.
‘This video relates to a historic incident, which has been fully investigated. We are disappointed with the updated rating received by EHO and the store is challenging this.
‘The local store owner is looking forward to a follow up inspection.’
Uh-huh.
Ten kids attending the “Petko R. Slaveykov” school in Yambol have been accommodated in the toxicology department of the city’s hospital, following a Staphylococcus aureus poisoning.
A visit by the regional health agency discovered lack of personal hygiene among the staff, low hygiene in the school’s canteen, and poor disinfection due to use of watered-down products.
The chairwoman of the health agency Dr. Gencheva explained that during the check-up health workers were able to isolate the Staphylococcus aureus from the pharynx of three of the staff members in the canteen
Health workers were also able to isolate E. coli from the working spaces and the equipment.
Crystal Chen of News 4 Jax reports just four months after opening its doors at the Strand near the Town Center, Red Robin failed an inspection with 19 health violations.
Red Robin is known for its burgers, brews and, of course, bottomless fries.
But that wasn’t the focus during a visit from the health inspector last week.
The restaurant was cited for six high-priority violations, including live flies found in the kitchen, food prep area and bar.
Raw sewage was found on the ground near the back door, and a stop sale was issued for potentially hazardous food like fish and milk that were at the wrong temperature.
In a second visit, two days later, the restaurant only had two violations, both regarding paperwork.
The restaurant was not shut down, and this was its first failed inspection.
Management and the company’s media relations department have not responded to requests for comment on the inspection report.
Katy Clifton of Get West London writes a Southall restaurant owner was fined more than £155,000 after council officersfound staff handling food with unwashed hands and cooked food next to a filthy mop bucket.
Chini Chor, in South Road, was taken to court by Ealing Council’s food safety team after the restaurant was found breaking food hygiene laws on two occasions.
The owner, Ravi Kumar Bakshi, pleaded guilty at Ealing Magistrates’ Court on Monday (October 16) and was ordered to pay more than £155,000 in fines and costs of £2,810.
During two inspections, staff were seen handling foods without washed hands and the access to the sink was obstructed by colanders stored on the floor.
Cooked foods were stored next to a mop bucket and foods were placed in dirty cardboard boxes.
Equipment for preparing foods, such as a cheese grater, had build-ups of dirt and were not washed properly, council officers found.
As of Thursday (October 19), the restaurant has a food hygiene rating of one.
Councillor Ranjit Dheer, cabinet member for community services and safety at Ealing Council , said the Southall restaurant showed “no improvement” between the visits.
A new smartphone application released by the Chinese Food and Drug Administration means food safety issues can now be reported by uploading images straight to the app.
The center for complaints and reports of the FDA introduced the software recently to make such an operation easier. In the application, users can report five kinds of food safety issues including expired foods, inedible objects in foods, smoking in restaurants, food providers without certificates and unwanted promotion of health foods during business meetings or sightseeing trips.
After installing and signing up for the application, users can file a complaint by simply entering the name of the food vendor, the vendor’s address, the kind of food safety issue and the description of the problem. The user can complete the first three steps by entering text, or by submitting a photo or a GPS coordinate. A special procedure is set up for anonymous complainers, and their information will only be seen by personnel designated by the FDA.
According to the FDA, the application takes full advantage of the Internet and enables citizens to report infringements of food safety laws immediately and right at the place where the violation occurs. The software can provide important evidence for supervisors.