‘We closely audit all resorts’ Campy ruins UK couple’s holiday

A Heanor holidaymaker is taking legal action against a travel company after he contracted food poisoning which turned birthday celebration into a “nightmare.”

traditional-food-stallJames Gratton, 51, and his wife Paula, 50 were staying in a four star hotel in Marrakech, Morocco when he ate incorrectly prepared poultry which gave him Campylobacter.

James, a HGV driver, said: “We booked this holiday as a way of celebrating my birthday and we’d been looking forward to it for a long time.

“But, in truth, it turned into a nightmare for both of us.

“I suffered terrible symptoms at the hotel, during our flight home and when I got back to the UK. The illness meant half the holiday was ruined for both of us.

“I had to take some extra time of work to recover from the symptoms and I still don’t feel completely right.

“We hope that by taking legal action we’ll find out what caused me to fall ill and how I came to test positive for Campylobacter.

“What was supposed to be an enjoyable and relaxing trip turned into a bit of a nightmare and spoilt what should have been a celebratory holiday.”

A First Choice spokesperson said: “First Choice is sorry to hear of Mr and Mrs Gratton’s experience.

“As this is now subject to legal proceedings, it would be inappropriate for us to comment further.

“We closely audit all resorts to which we operate to ensure that health, hygiene and comfort levels are maintained in line with industry standards.”

Cats eating dead deer behind UK market stall

Officers investigating concerns about the state of a market stall found cats eating a dead deer when they went to inspect the premises.

market.stallHusband and wife, Charles, 78 and Margery Todd, 77, who sold food at markets across the East Riding as well as Leeds, Malton and York, have been banned from running any food business by magistrates, who described the images as “harrowing”.

The Todds, who ran Rosedale Farm Products, Bewholme, Hornsea, will also have to pay almost £15,000 after admitting a string of food safety and hygiene offences.

Beverley Magistrates were told the business had been operating for 48 years and supplied gamebirds, chicken and turkey to the private and commercial sector as well to the public via market stalls.

There were no hand washing facilities or provision for cleaning or washing of preparation tables or equipment.

As the meat had not been stored correctly, some was so decomposed officers were unable to identify what animal it was.

Magistrates were told how the Todds agreed to a voluntary closure order but continued to operate the business.

Mr Todd apologised to customers today saying there was “no defence” from the pictures and saying standards had slipped following two motor accidents which had affected his mobility and led to his being registered disabled.

He said: “I am not going to be bloodyminded. It was a mess. It was a gradual deterioration proportionate to the deterioration of my physical ability.”

UK Indian restaurant owner convicted of food hygiene infractions, 10 years after similar offences

An Indian restaurant owner will go before a judge for sentencing after he admitted eight breaches of hygiene at his restaurant and take-away kitchen – ten years after he was prosecuted for similar offences.

just.eat.riceMalik Bukhsh of Beatrice Street came before magistrates sitting in Swindon on Monday afternoon charged with eight contraventions of food safety and hygiene at the New Swindon Balti on Cricklade Road including a cooked rice container that was cracked and held together with string, a large box lined with newspaper containing cooked onion bhajis that had been left out overnight, a lack of formal cleaning procedures in place and storing raw and ready to eat foods in the same containers without disinfecting them in between uses.

The court heard that he received around 160 orders through the online takeaway website Just Eat every month, but for the year ending 2015 he only made a profit of a little over £4,000.

Mr Williams pointed out that the previous conviction in 2006 had arisen after Bukhsh had taken a rare holiday and left the business in a family member’s hands, and since then he had rarely taken holiday.

56 Saudis treated for food poisoning

As many as 56 people were treated for food poisoning after they had taken food from a restaurant in Khabbash governorate.

saudiNajran Municipality spokesman Abdullah Al-Fadel said the Health Affairs Directorate reported that 56 Saudis were admitted to various hospitals with food poisoning. The municipality formed a committee consisting of representatives from the municipality, the Health Affairs Directorate and the Saudi Food and Drugs Authority.

The municipality closed down the restaurant temporarily and took samples of the food and workers to the laboratory. The restaurant did not have any previous record of health and safety violations.

All victims have recovered except for 16 who are still in King Khalid Hospital. However, their condition is stable.

Australian sushi restaurant fined $40,000

Inspectors found cockroaches in the microwave and freezer at a sushi bar in Brighton, Melbourne, as well as mouldy, grimy surfaces and toxic pest control products near the soy sauce, leading to a $40,000 fine.

Owner Sarah Nguyen, 36, pleaded guilty to more than 30 charges for substandard practices at her sushi bar after it was raided following a customer complaint.

Council officers found unrefrigerated chicken, dirty conditions and sushi stored above regulated temperatures.

They cited 11 non-compliant inspections at the premises over 11 months, according to Nine News. 

The Moorabbin Magistrates’ Court heard that Ms Nguyen kept the eatery in appalling conditions which posed a ‘public safety risk’. 

As the sole proprietor, Nguyen will be footing the entire bill.

Red-yellow-green for Calif.’s Contra Costa restaurants

Starting with the 20 on-site inspections completed laws week, Contra Costa’’s Environmental Health Department is now giving the 4,000-some restaurants, grocery stores, delis, conveniencemarts and gas station heat-lamp operations physical placards showing whether that establishment fully passes (green) or is on “conditional” status (yellow).

placard-types-400x455If major problems like vermin infestations, lack of hot water or improper storage temperatures result in an order to close, such establishments can be assigned a red placard until the problems are solved.

For Contra Costa Environmental Health Department Director Marilyn Underwood, it’s largely a matter of consistency. Alameda County, with the exception of the city of Berkeley, has since July 2012 used a color-coded placard system much like the one Contra Costa has adopted with green (pass), yellow (conditional pass) and red (closed) given to the county’s 6,000 restaurants, grocery stores and other places food is sold.

In 2014, Santa Clara County adopted a similar system showing inspection results for its 8,000 vendors. The only Bay Area county that doesn’t do this or something similar, Underwood said, is San Francisco.

“People here live in one area and commute to other areas, and we wanted a consistent look to what people see,” she said.

Also, having a vendor’s rating posted publicly should encourage them to clean up their acts, literally, and may result in more clients reporting problems they see.

To see more about the Contra Costa placard program, go to http://cchealth.org/eh/retail-food/placard.php

More information on the Alameda County program is available at www.acgov.org/aceh/food/grading.htm

Details on Santa Clara County’s placard program can be found at www.sccgov.org/sites/cpd/programs/fsp/Pages/Placarding.aspx

One star hygiene rating for UK college restaurant training chefs of the future

The training restaurant at Neath Port Talbot College has scored a one star food hygiene rating.

Inspectors visited the restaurant called Blasus at the Dwr Y Felin Road campus last month.

blasus.Neath Port Talbot CollegeThey found major improvement was needed in hygienic food handling, improvement was necessary in the cleanliness and condition of facilities and the building while the management of food safety was only generally satisfactory.

The ratings range from the lowest which is zero to the highest which is five.

The restaurant, formally known as the Paragon Restaurant before a £45,000 refurbishment in 2010, has been training students and serving the community for more than 25 years.

A spokeswoman for the college said: “Our Training Restaurant ‘Blasus’ and Level 1 Trainee Chefs were audited by the Environmental Health Officer on Tuesday 08 March 2016. Regrettably, on this occasion, we did not meet our usual “Five Star” hygiene rating.

“As with any hospitality business, the safety of our customers is paramount and all our students and staff have responded positively to the Environmental Health Officer’s report. All recommendations have been addressed and we have requested a re-grade visit.

“This has been a valuable training experience for all our students.”

‘Outer garment soiled with possible contaminant’ Guy Fieri’s restaurant slammed by health inspectors

I have no use for celebrity chefs: posers.

Guy Fieri‘s New York restaurant, Guy’s American Bar & Grill, has been slammed by the NYC Department of Health & Mental Hygiene, RadarOnline.com can exclusively report.

guy-fieri-bobby-moynihan-saturday-night-live-snl.0According to a January 2016 restaurant inspection, officials discovered nasty vermin in the Times Square greasy spoon.

“Filth flies or food/refuse/sewage-associated flies present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas,” the most recent report reads. “Filth flies include house flies, little house flies, blow flies, bottle flies and flesh flies. Food/refuse/sewage-associated flies include fruit flies, drain flies and Phorid flies.”

The eatery was also reprimanded for employees failing to use “proper utensils” to “eliminate bare hand contact with food.”

Inspectors graded Guy’s American Bar & Grill with a concerning B rating.

It wasn’t the first time Fieri was criticized for critters in his kitchen. In January 2015, inspectors discovered “live roaches” on the ground.

Late last year, it was the 48-year-old shock chefs’ dirty employees, not unwelcome pests, who were the subject of the inspectors’ scorn.

“Personal cleanliness inadequate,” they wrote. “Outer garment soiled with possible contaminant. Effective hair restraint not worn in an area where food is prepared.”

 

Guy’s American Bar & Grill,

12 sickened: Australian grandmother almost died after contracting Salmonella on cruise

A Perth grandmother has been struck down by a number of illnesses after she was infected with Salmonella while a passenger on an Australian cruise ship.

Sally Faulkin, 90, has spent one month in hospital after she, along with 12 others, came down with Salmonella poisoning on a Cruise and Maritime Voyages ship last month.

Ms Faulkin became so sick she could no longer walk, and her family called a priest, fearing she would need to have her last rites read.

Ms Faulkin’s family said they had made five phone calls and sent nine emails to the cruise company in an attempt to get answers, but haven’t received a response.

Michael Gannon, a spokesman for the Australian Medical Association WA, said cruise ships are a breeding ground for bacteria.

“It’s a completely closed environment where infectious agents can spread very quickly,” he said.

The Australian Medical Association WA is making calls for a quarantine and inspection service to check ships coming in and out of the state, which would bring them in line with NSW.

Food fairy tales: ‘If you eat food, you are being lied to every day ‘

I like Tampa, and even more Sarasota and Anna Maria Island. Brisbane is equidistance from the equator as is Sarasota, and I enjoy going to the rink in flip-flops and shorts.

MF_34_Max_combine_-_2006I also enjoyed that Tampa Bay beat Detroit (Amy’s team) in game 1 of the National Hockey League playoffs

And like Brisbane, there is great seafood, but a lot of it is bullshit.

Laura Reiley of Tampa Bay writes the restaurant’s chalkboard makes claims as you enter from the valet parking lot. At the hostess stand, a cheery board reads, “Welcome to local, farm-fresh Boca.”

Wait.

Amy and I were in Phoenix in 2007, and went to a Coyotes game, and I eventually had to turn to the asshole sitting behind us, going on about how he had this cougar in Boca and tell him to shut the fuck up.

But food fraud and hucksterism is a growth business.

Brown butcher paper tops tables and lettuces grow along a wooden wall. In a small market case, I see canned goods from here and produce from somewhere. Check the small print: blackberries from Mexico and blueberries from California.

With the tagline “Local, simple and honest,” Boca Kitchen Bar Market was among the first wave of farm-to-table restaurants in Tampa Bay to make the assertion “we use local products whenever possible.” I’ve reviewed the food. My own words are right there on their website: “local, thoughtful and, most importantly, delicious.”

But i’ve been had, from the snapper down to the beef.

It’s not just Boca. At Pelagia Trattoria at International Plaza, the “Florida blue crab” comes from the Indian Ocean.

Mermaid Tavern in Seminole Heights shouts “Death to Pretenders” on its menu, but pretends cheese curds are homemade and shrimp are from Florida.

At Maritana Grille at the Loews Don cesar, chefs claim to get pork from a farmer who doesn’t sell to them.

This is a story we are all being fed. A story about overalls, rich soil and John Deere tractors – I grew up with Massey-Fergusons — scattering broods of busy chickens. A story about healthy animals living happy lives, heirloom tomatoes hanging heavy and earnest artisans rolling wheels of cheese into aging caves nearby.

More often than not, those things are fairy tales. A long list of Tampa Bay restaurants are willing to capitalize on our hunger for the story.

LightningMazeAnd it’s all 21st century snake oil.

PEOPLE WANT “LOCAL,” and they’re willing to pay. Local promises food that is fresher and tastes better; it means better food safety; it yields a smaller carbon footprint while preserving genetic diversity; it builds community.

If you eat food, you are being lied to every day.

The food supply chain is so vast and so complicated. It has yielded extra-virgin olive oil that is actually colored sunflower oil, Parmesan cheese bulked up with wood pulp, and a horsemeat scandal that, for a while, rendered Ikea outings Swedish meatball-free.

Everywhere you look, you see the claims: “sustainable,” “naturally raised,” “organic,” “non-GMO,” “fair trade,” “responsibly grown.” Restaurants have reached new levels of hyperbole.

What makes buying food different from other forms of commerce is this: It’s a trust-based system. How do you know the Dover sole on your plate is Dover sole? Only that the restaurateur said so.

And that’s why traceability and microbial food safety need to be marketed at retail. The technology is there.