Dirty takeaways

[Booldawg]

Hampshire county council have a website www.safe2eat.com that lists every establishment in the whole county that serves or prepares food. This includes pubs, cafes, takeaways, schools, village halls, places of work with a staff canteen etc etc.

The establishments are listed as Excellent, Satisfactory and Unsatisfactory. In East Hampshire alone there are over 750 places listed. 8 of these are unsatisfactory.

Out of the 8 unsatisfactory places 6 of them are foreign owned takeways.

Takeaways only make up a small proportion of the 750 odd places listed but makes up the majority of unsatisfactory places to eat.

Surely everyone who works with food is required to be trained to the same level? Why are these places unable to meet the required standard? Its not like they have huge kitchens to keep clean. Or is it more of a cultural thing whereby standards of hygene arent important?

[ummmm]

I don't like to say but I think it's a cultural thing. Our health and safety are also too strict.

Go to Thailand and eat the street food. Raw Chickens hanging in unbelievable heat and then cooked to order...yuk

[tamborine]

my local 'indian' had blue-pellet rat poison strewn outside on pavement & parking area.....surely this is hazardous to dogs being walked past ?

[Sachs]

Hi Booldawg, Lazy management practices filtering down through to the staff? What are the requirements to meet the 'satisfactory' list?

[Booldawg]

Not sure if the site lists the criteria that matches each level. Obviously 'unsatisfactory' isnt enough to close them down until the problem is remedied.

[redcrx]

how many of the "Excellent" ones were there and how many were foreign owned?

I do think that a lot has to do with difference in how the staff would live in their home country, and also the language barrier.

Pouring fat down the drain is the main problem with my local tandoori, they just dont understand why it shouldnt be done and why the drains flood every other month.

[Booldawg]

I did look at the Excellent ones and got to about page 6 and didnt see any obviously foreign owned premises. Thats not to say that some English sounding places arent foreign owned.

This doesnt detract from the fact that the foreign owned ones dominate the unsatisfactory rating.

[Mortartube]

Just because people may be trained to a certain level, unfortunately, it doesn't always mean that they maintain that level after gaining their certificate.

My brother is an electrician and worked in a Chinese reataurant kitchen, doing a job that involved clambering on the work sufaces and drilling the walls. He told the owner that this would happen. After he had finished, staff prepared food immediately on the surface and also were defrosting chcikens in bowls of cold water just sitting around the kitchen

They had a certificate on the wall that they had passed the councils hygiene course.

Needless to say, I won't be eating there/

[redcrx]

its easy to pass a test and then go back to doing things wrong out of pure laziness etc

Just look at the amount of bad drivers we have on the roads.

[Gnawer]

good point redcrx, Some people only toe the line to get their certificates, badges, etc... and then start cutting corners to save time and money!

[theonlyone]

Easy option , cook at home ....

[sue11]

You do not need food hygiene certificates to run a food establishment unfortunately. When you open a food establishment, you are required to fill in a food registration document for Environmental Health, listing what type of establishment you are and what you are selling. This should lead to a visit from En Health to check that your business has the required standards in the form of decor and equipment. En Health should offer at that point any assistance in the from of training and guidelines if the business needs it.
Continued below:

[sue11]

However of course the registration has to be implemented by the business owner, if they do not do that, then it will take a while (could be a long while!) before En Health realise that a new business has been set up in their area. The council does not always share info either, you would have thought that planning would inform En Health that a food business had applied for any planing consents needed and may need a visit from them, but they don't!
Although there are a lot of very well run foreign owned businesses out there, some try to avoid things like planning consents, registration and training to keep their costs to a minimum, but at the expense of the public who eat their food!
If you suspect that any food business is not being as well run as it should be, then contact En Health who will be able to advise you if the business is well run, as a matter of course they should visit every open food business every 6 to 18 months dependant on how well it is run.
You will probably find that one of the best run businesses are the large company or franchised ones such as MacD's KFC etc. A lot of people dismiss these places as badly run with surly teens working the tills etc, but these businesses invest a lot of money in marketing and best working practices and have a vested interest in ensuring that all staff are following their required safety procedures as they should.
Hope this has given you a little more insight.
Cheers
Sue