Tag Archives: nsw

Restaurants told to wash hands or be named-and-shamed

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Katrina Hodgkinson, the Minister for Primary Industries in New South Wales (the Australian state that includes Sydney), told the Cowra Community News that NSW food businesses to clean up their act.

“Hand-washing is at the very foundation of correct and safe food handling. Over the past 12 months, there have been about 170 offences related to hand-washing listed on the Name and Shame register.

“Whether you’re at home cooking for your family, in the kitchen of the local café, a chef in a high end commercial kitchen or at a fast food chain preparing food for thousands – the key to keeping a safe and hygienic kitchen is washing your hands.

“Each penalty notice carries a fine of $880 for a corporation and $440 for an individual as well as the unenviable honour of being placed on the Name and Shame list where consumers can easily see the breaches of their local food outlets.

“Consumers vote with their feet, so begin by washing your hands to ensure you don’t lose business or worse – make your customers sick.”

The full list of penalty notices and prosecutions can be found at www.foodauthority.nsw.gov.au.

Scores on Doors trial set for New South Wales

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The NSW Food Authority has announced a year-long voluntary trial of the Scores on Doors program will be rolled out across the Australian state of NewSouth Wales.

"Scores on Doors offers businesses a fantastic opportunity to show customers just how seriously they take food hygiene and the results they have achieved," said Katrina Hodgkinson, Minister for Primary Industries.

"Certificates from the voluntary program will be displayed near doorways of participating retail food outlets so customers will be able to see just how well restaurants, cafés or other outlets have performed during their food safety inspection."

Under the Scores on Doors trial program, participating retail food outlets are assigned a star rating dependent upon their level of performance. Top rating businesses receive a five star rating, with four and three stars also awarded to businesses that perform well and comply with the requirements of the Food Standards Code.

Participation is voluntary though through the program businesses will have the opportunity to promote and advertise their food safety performance.

Food Authority officer is also dashing

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The Sydney Morning Herald reports that “Peter Sutherland is a clean and tidy-looking man as would be expected of a NSW Food Authority employee. His uniform is neatly pressed and his spectacles are sparkling. His unassuming appearance would easily go unnoticed in a busy restaurant.”

That’s not an accurate description of Peter. He’s dashing in his own way, and has a healthy sense of humor.

”My job is not necessarily just about inspecting the kitchen, it is about observing people’s behaviour,” Sutherland (ritght, pic from SMH) says, his eyes slowly scanning the sink of dirty dishes, stove top and fridge. ”It is amazing how quickly people forget an officer is in the kitchen.”

Sutherland prefers the title of food safety officer to health inspector to describe the work of council officers who visit restaurants. The NSW Food Authority gathers the results from these inspections and publishes them in an annual report card.

According to the latest report card in October, restaurant standards are improving. But hundreds still end up on the NSW Food Authority name-and-shame list, updated weekly.

It is questionable whether most home kitchens in Sydney would live up to the same standards. My kitchen, for one, would be a shoo-in to be named and shamed.

”It is amazing how many people don’t wash their hands – 35 per cent admit to only remembering to wash their hands after they have started cooking,” he says.
The tea towel is another of Sutherland’s bugbears. Like chopping boards – which should be scrubbed between uses and regularly given a ”good dose of sunlight” – tea towels are a common source of cross-contamination. ”You use the tea towel to dry the dishes, wipe the bench, maybe wipe the floor and then you might wipe your child’s nose,” he says.
 

Australian home cook fined $20,000 over mass food poisoning

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A bad batch of eggs is all it took for home cook Mercedes Zambrano to be hit with a legal bill of more than $20,000 and a place on the NSW Food Authority’s name-and-shame list for a case of mass food poisoning.

The Zambrano family had been regulars at weekly South American community gatherings at the Kensington Bowling Club for Rincon Cubano, a Latin-American music, food and dance event. ”We’re like the Partridge family,” Jefferson Zambrano, a Latin-American percussionist, said.

When the regular caterer left, his mother, Mrs Zambrano, was invited to provide the food.

But after more than 50 people fell ill with salmonella poisoning at a barbecue at the club in November 2009, Mrs Zambrano, 56, was fined $9600 and ordered to pay $11,000 in costs.

An investigation by the NSW Food Authority determined the presence of salmonella in various foods served at the function, the most likely cause of contamination being a raw whole-egg mayonnaise used in a salad.

Mrs Zambrano pleaded guilty to three offences including selling food that is unsafe, failing to comply with the Food Standards Code and a failure to notify the NSW Food Authority of her food business.

She was classified as a business because she charged money for the food. Mr Zambrano said this was unfair, as his mother was simply catering for a community event and had charged money to cover her costs rather than to make a profit.

In hearing the matter in the Local Court, Magistrate Gregory Hart acknowledged the woman had contributed significantly to her community through fund-raising, and volunteer work, and she never intended to cause harm; however, he stated the need to provide a deterrence factor in imposing his findings.

"It is important to alert [people] conducting food businesses, including part-time food businesses associated with community activities, that the requirements of the Food Act 2003 and the standards set by the Food Standards Code must be complied with," Magistrate Hart said.

The NSW Primary Industries Minister, Katrina Hodgkinson, said the case was a reminder to other community caterers of the importance of the Food Standards Code.

"This highlights the important work of the NSW Food Authority in establishing NSW regulations and food safety programs, including cultivating good food-handling practices and sharing information on food safety”

Star rating system for Brisbane restaurants launched to protect diners

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Brisbane goes it alone, as the Australian city launched a "score on the door" program – except that it’s an electronic door that is only available on-line.

My 2-year-old knows how to navigate the iPod touch. I don’t.

So for us old-timers, why not just actually post a score on the door, rather than expect us to hitch up the stagecoach and find the reading glasses.

Brisbane City Council announced its Eat safe program today, whereby businesses will be rated from two to five stars with those food businesses receiving a three and above encouraged to display their rating in their business’s window.

Those restaurants that receive a two, a poor rating, will be given the chance to fix their problems and change their rating but businesses scoring less than two are likely to be shut down.

79 per cent of Brisbane’s 5500 food businesses received the safe rating of three stars.

Less than half – 2182 businesses – have signed on to display the ratings, which is voluntary.

Sydney store fined over sushi

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The NSW Food Authority has added the sushi bar at upmarket retailer David Jones, located in its famous food hall on Market Street, Sydney, to its Name and Shame list for not keeping food at the required temperature (that’s model Miranda Kerr, right, shopping at the store).

"Prawn and salmon sushi with cooked rice was found to be in the temperature range of 11.8C to 24.5C, Primary Industries Minister Steve Whan said in a statement on Saturday.

"The required temperature for retail display is 5C or less, unless a business has in place a system to ensure product is displayed for no more than four hours without refrigeration."

The department store was fined $660 fine for the breach.

Other food outlets added to the NSW Food Authority’s Name and Shame register in the past month include Koh-Ya Yakiniku Japanese restaurant, in Neutral Bay.

The restaurant was fined $660 for storing raw meat on dirty wet towels directly above ready-to-eat food.

Australian restaurants to have ‘score on the door’

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I’ve been to Bondi beach in Sydney, Australia, a few times. That’s me and Chapman in 2002, (below left, not exactly as shown) while Dani waited on the beach. Age has not been kind.

The Australians were slow to adapt restaurant inspection disclosure, but a series of investigative reports in Sydney in early 2007 helped add some immediacy to the process. First they went to a ‘name and shame’ list.

Today, the New South Wales Minister for Primary Industries, Steve Whan, trucked down to the ever-trendy Skinny Dip cafe in Bondi to announce that restaurants across the state will vie for an A grade or face the wooden spoon under a new `score on the door’ food safety and hygiene rating system.

Restaurants and cafes will be ranked A, B, C or P for pending.

Mr Whan told reporters,

"An A in Bondi is the same as an A at Bathurst. Here’s an opportunity for restaurants who are doing a good job to show that off and make that part of their marketing for customers.

"If (people) see an A on one restaurant, a B in another and a C on the one next door … I think the customers will drive this with their feet."

The state-wide program will be an Australian first, although a similar system has operated at local council level in Brisbane.

The rating system will be trialled for six months from July 1 in 12 Sydney council areas before a state-wide rollout from July 2011, and that appeal avenues will be in place for restaurants that dispute their rating.

Skinny Dip owner Reuven Savitte said his business had worked hard for its A grade and would be rewarded with customer loyalty.

"I’m proud to be the first one to have an A.”

Sydney cafe faces fine for selling recalled milk; govt says public health and consumer safety is priority

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AAP reports an inner Sydney cafe is facing up to half a million dollars in fines after it was caught selling Bonsoy soy milk.

The milk was recalled on December 23 when 10 people, including a newborn baby, fell ill with thyroid problems in New South Wales, the Australian state where Sydney is located.

The product was recalled nationally after it was found to contain unusually high levels of iodine, which may affect the thyroid and cause people to feel unwell, Food Standards Australia (FSA) said.

The Luxe Bakery Cafe on Missenden Road in Newtown is now facing up to $500,000 in fines after FSA was tipped off that it was still selling the product.

Primary Industries Minister Steve Whan said in a statement on Sunday,

"Ignorance is no excuse. The NSW government does not tolerate businesses that breach food safety and put consumers at risk. Our priority is ensuring this product is off the shelves and out of coffee shops and cafes so consumers can dine with confidence."

This is an example of clear, concise communication with no confusion about competing mandates: public health rules. Good for them.