"food hygiene" news and stories

It amazes me now to think back to my days working at a pizza restaurant in the mid 80s, when we never wore gloves when we prepared food. Ever. We handled the dough, the bread for sandwiches, even salad items by hand (well, we used forks and tongs but our hands were involved sometimes too). We never even thought of wearing gloves, but this was before more intense health worries and stricter guidelines. Today, if I go to a sandwich place and I see they aren't wearing gloves, I don't eat there (and, no, I'm not some food dictator, I don't go looking in the kitchen, I'm talking about a casual observation).

But what about wearing masks?

Two of the worse cases of poor food safety hygiene that Scottish Environmental Health Officers have ever come across has resulted in large fines for the two restaurants concerned.

Kipp's, was fined a total of £1,000 for five charges (£200 fine per charge) when a routine inspection found such bad standards of food hygiene that it would have been unacceptable to allow handling and preparation of foods for human consumption. The takeaway had a 'significant infestation of mice' with mouse droppings in every part of the premises; including on a chopping board in the main food preparation area and on a work surface next to a meat slicing machine.

The other restaurant, China, China, have been fined a total of £3,065. Officers visited the premises within 48 hours of receiving a complaint regarding cockroaches. The facilities failed to address the infestation and implement basic cleaning and disinfection routines that resulted in the kitchen and kitchen equipment deemed to be filthy.

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The World Health Organization advises that in areas free from the disease, poultry and poultry products can be prepared and eaten as usual (following good hygiene practice and proper cooking), with no fear of acquiring infection.

General hygiene rules should be followed when handling raw poultry

• those preparing the food should wash their hands thoroughly
• surfaces and utensils in contact with the poultry products should be washed throughly. Soap and hot water are sufficient for this purpose

There are no reports of people contracting bird flu (H5N1) from eating eggs of meat from poultry. But the WHO still advises that the the virus may be present in meat and eggs from affected birds. The virus is easily killed by by cooking and, if still present, the virus is destroyed by saliva and by gastric acid, as well as the fact that there are very few receptors the virus needs to enter the body in the gut.

The WHO has a PDF download on combating the disease.

[image from the steeldeal]

 

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