Four star restaurant in Birmingham, England was given a zero by food safety inspectors in a recent review. This rating is given to restaurants that the inspectors find have either poor standards of hygiene structure, confidence in management or a combination of these factors.
This verdict will hold true for the restaurant until the next inspection, which may not come for another six to eighteen months. How will this affect the customer numbers? Dramatically, I would think, but only time can tell.
For the full article, click here.
The restaurant, Marco Pierre White Steakhouse, costs about around £50 (~$100 AU) per head and this goes as a warning to restaurant goers everywhere. As I now reflect on my own attitudes when I eat out, I must distance the connection between price and cleanliness. There is a general assumption that a high rating and expensive restaurant must have hygienic methods in food preparation. Thankfully, in most cases, this holds true but consumers should not let their guard down. As recent discoveries around England show, even high class restaurants can slack off in their treatment of their storage compartments and kitchen utensils.
Please do not misunderstand me. I am a huge fan of eating out. The abundance of cuisines I am incapable of cooking that I get to enjoy at a restaurant, the fact I do not have to wash the dishes, the ability to enjoy a meal with your friends, these are some of the many aspects I love about eating out. However, having read the article and written this blog, my expectations of any restaurant’s ‘food safety’, in a sense, have unfortunately been lowered.
There is an odd glimmer of hope. Even though their food safety levels were down, there has been no recorded cases of food poisoning at Marco Pierre White Steakhouse. Their unhygienic methods have not led to any of their customers discomfort. One comfort we may have when we next enter a restaurant… maybe?
