Northern restaurants fail to comply

The Consumer Council calls on all restaurants to prioritize consumer health and to comply with the requirements under the Food Safety Act and Regulation. A number of restaurants in the Northern division are deliberately turning a blind eye to the warnings given by the Council and the Ministry of Health.

A total of 18 restaurants within Labasa town area continue to operate using unhygienic food practices despite several reminders to refrain from doing so. The Council’s market surveillance carried out in 2011 to early this year noted no change. Now that the Ministry of Health is putting standards in place and grading restaurants in different bands as per the compliance level, the food industry should get serious as to how they operate.

The Council will be reporting a number of restaurants to the rightful authority for failing to comply with standards in place. With North in the spot light for non-compliance, the Council would like to urge all restaurants to uplift the standard of their service. The market surveillance results showed employees not wearing hair nets, had nail polish and jewellery on their hand while handling food. Kitchen floors had rubbish all over the place and overflowing rubbish bins very near to the food area.

Kitchen floors were wet and dirty with wet door mats while dirty hand towels were placed at hand basins for consumer use. Few kitchens had dirty water stored under the kitchen sink due to blocked drainage. The sight of the Northern restaurants can simply be described as one’s worst nightmare. Seeing what happens behind the scene will definitely make a consumer vow never to return.

The Food Safety Regulations 2009 requires food handlers to maintain a high degree of personal cleanliness and wear suitable protective gears such as head covering and footwear when preparing food. The law stipulates that persons handling food in restaurants or other food outlets should not wear jewellery, watches, pins and other items that may poses risks to food. Pieces of jewelry, pins and other items can always fall into food pots, plates, etc posing health and safety risks to consumers.

The law also requires restaurant owners to maintain a clean and hygienic cooking environment. The Council is also urging consumers to be mindful of the restaurants they choose to eat at.

Meanwhile the Council will continue with its market surveillance in all three regions.