TOOL KIT CONSUMER COUNCIL OF FIJI CAMPAIGN ON MAKE RESTAURANT HYGIENE YOUR CONCERN TODAY

Transcription

1 TOOL KIT CONSUMER COUNCIL OF FIJI CAMPAIGN ON MAKE RESTAURANT HYGIENE YOUR CONCERN TODAY

2 Restaurant Hygiene Campaign: Your Questions Answered Why are you running a Restaurant Hygiene Campaign? The Consumer Council of Fiji s Restaurant Hygiene Campaign Make Restaurant Hygiene Your Concern Today is part of the strategy for introducing a hygiene rating for restaurants and eateries in Fiji and making restaurants responsible for providing quality services to consumers. The Campaign aims to raise awareness of food hygiene issues to firstly, change behaviour of food operators to employ good hygiene practices when preparing and handling food and, secondly, to place pressure on the regulatory authorities to enforce the Public Health Act, to help achieve the Council s aim of addressing consumer complaints and ensuring food safety is practiced by all food outlets. What does the campaign activity involve? Campaign activity will media coverage and radio adverts to encourage consumers to support the campaign initiative and become involved by sharing their experiences, observations as well as make suggestions on how to make restaurants responsible for practicing food safety. We also intend to communicate simple hygiene messages to people who work in catering businesses. Is this campaign being run in all parts of Fiji? Yes, this phase of the campaign is nation-wide. Why are you focusing on hygiene practices in restaurants? Our focus on hygiene in restaurants is based on the nature of complaints received from consumers. Consumers complain about the pests or insects find in their food; are sold stale, halfcooked or cold food, especially meat. Cockroaches, dead flies and maggots are the commonly found pests/insects that are found in restaurant or café foods. A first of its kind was the discovery of a rat tail in a Chinese takeaway from a Suva restaurant. A consumer had also complained about the mixture of meat dust in meat pies and sausage rolls in some restaurants operating in the Suva city. So it is certainly in the consumers interest to know the hygiene status of food outlets to prevent the consumption of contaminated food and falling sick as a result of it. But there is no fast and

3 easy way of knowing if a restaurant has a kitchen that is filthy or is infested with rats and cockroaches, or even if it has undergone municipal council inspection. Consumers should be able to choose a restaurant on the basis of hygiene, just as they would on the basis of the menu, service or ambience. Not only are consumers finding pests and insects in their food and drinks but they are also served in soiled, tarnished, chipped or cracked utensils, cutlery, glass and crockery. This is least expected to occur especially since it is an offence under the Public Health Act. Such poor service awarded to consumers needs to STOP. The overall administration of the hygiene status of food outlets comes under the jurisdiction of the Health Services Department within the municipal councils and the Ministry of Health. Restaurant inspections should be carried out by the Department s health inspectors. If a business fails to comply with food safety and hygiene preparation requirements under the Public Health Act (Cap.111), inspectors have a number of compliance and enforcement options available to them. These include written warnings, improvement notices or for more serious breaches on-the-spot fines right through to termination of the business license and its ultimate closure. It is important to address food hygiene in restaurants because Fiji is heavily dependent on tourism numbers and dollars. For example, Suva is working tirelessly to display itself as a tourist destination. However, the present ambience of restaurants is an area that has been overlooked in their efforts. Following examples overseas, the Council anticipates that the campaign will result in reforms like cleaner restaurants, satisfied diners, more revenue generation for clean restaurants, increase in diner numbers and reduced consumer complaints. Furthermore, tests conducted of various food outlets in the vicinity of Suva by the University of the South Pacific IAS laboratory clearly revealed that food contamination is likely to happen from the catering workers. Many catering workers are not carrying out a step that is an essential part of good food hygiene practice. For example, having short, clean fingernails, tying back of hair and washing hands after handling raw meat or money. The public expects people who prepare food to follow basic food hygiene practices. But often they can t see what goes on in a catering establishment s kitchen. The personal hygiene of catering workers also matter and therefore the USP food testing demonstrates that we need to focus on the really simple issues to improve food hygiene standards and protect the public. Who did the USP test cover?

4 The USP IAS laboratory conducted food sample tests for total aerobic count and total coliform count. Total aerobic count is an important index of good sanitation, handling, processing and storage practices whereas total coliform count is the indicator microorganisms for unhygienic handling of foods including possible presence of certain pathogens. Sampling & testing of the ready to eat food from the Suva city area and food outlets were done. Random food samples were collected from the bus stand area, Flea market, Cumming St, Raoji Bhai Patel St and Victoria Parade. One cold and one hot dish were bought from each outlet. Results were mixed for coliform counts and aerobic counts. Some had acceptable levels of both while others had one slightly higher than the other. Food contamination is also noted from food handlers (personal sanitation), storage temperature, and unclean equipment/utensils usage or from added ingredients. Is there any particular type of catering business that is 'dirtier' or has lower food hygiene standards than any other? The USP tests was not done to compare different types of business, just to cover a representative sample of small to medium-sized independent catering businesses. There can be good or bad hygiene in any type of food business. How can consumers in Fiji become involved in the Council s restaurant hygiene campaign? All consumers are encouraged to join the Council campaign on Make Restaurant Hygiene Your Concern Today. They can lodge their complaints by filling out a complaint form at the three Council premises in Suva, Lautoka and Labasa or visit to fill a form there. Consumers can share their experiences/observations with restaurants via letter, , fax, phone; send pictures of eating places who seem not to practice food hygiene; and or they can suggest what enforcement agencies should do to protect the health of its people and recommend how to make restaurants/eateries more responsible for practicing better hygiene standards in their services. What are the '4 Cs'? The 4 Cs are the main things to remember for good food hygiene. They are: cleaning work areas should be kept clean and food handlers should wash their hands regularly cooking food, especially meat, should be cooked properly

5 chilling chilled foods should be kept cold and hot foods should be cooled as quickly as possible and then chilled cross-contamination raw foods should be kept separate from ready-to-eat foods, and surfaces and utensils should be cleaned thoroughly, to avoid cross-contamination. Are you working closely with the municipal authorities and the rural local authority in this campaign? This campaign will help the above mentioned regulatory bodies because it raises the profile of the vital work they do to protect public health. It makes clear to local authorities that consumers consider this work to be important. If consumers think that food businesses do not practise good food hygiene what should they do? If someone thinks that a restaurant is serving food that might not be safe to eat, or if they think the people who work there don t practise good food hygiene, we encourage them to report it to us during our campaign period. They should also tell the municipal councils in their respective areas or the rural local authority. Hygiene in the restaurant food business When eating out in a restaurant, we judge the cleanliness by what we see in the dining area. We assume that if the dining area is clean then the kitchen is clean too, and vice versa. We would never eat in a restaurant that has cockroaches, dirty towels and raw meat being mishandled around the dining room just because the dining room is clean does not mean the kitchen is at the same standard. Looking hygienic is no guarantee that a food outlet is in fact hygienic. Restaurants in particular can be hard to judge, as much of the food handling and preparation is done out of sight. What to be aware of: Dirty floors, counters and tables. If people can t keep their premises clean, chances are they don t do much better with the food. Staff with dirty hands or fingernails, dangling jewelry and long hair not tied back. Dirty or chipped crockery, cutlery or glasses. Lukewarm food that should be hot, and cold food that isn t quite cold. Hot foods should be kept above 60deg C (steaming hot) and cold foods below 5deg C, to stop most bacteria from multiplying. Foods not cooked right through, such as a pink centre in hamburger meat and pink uncooked chicken (particularly near the bone). Cafes and takeaway outlets

6 You can avoid the worst cafes and takeaway outlets by keeping a lookout for the following: Uncovered or unwrapped food on counters. Unrefridegerated pre-packed sandwiches. Condensation dripping from display cabinets onto food. Raw and cooked foods, such as salads and meats, touching each other in display units. Staff using the same set of tongs for different types of food for example, salads and meat. Staff not washing hands after handling raw meat. Don t automatically think that if staff is wearing gloves everything is OK. If they handle money as well as your food, or if they don t change the gloves when handling different foods, the exercise is pointless.

7