IS THIS AUSTRALIA’S FILTHIEST RESTAURANT?A popular dumpling restaurant in Melbourne’s east has been exposed as a filthy cesspit, and its owner fined $19,000 after live and dead cockroaches, drain flies, rodent faeces and filthy buildups of food waste, grease, oil and grime were found in the kitchen.

A Monash Council inspector made the discovery at the Raramen eatery in Glen Waverley, along with used drink bottles used to store sauces, meat sitting on a bench “for a couple of hours” and rice stored on the floor, plus wires and boxes that had been nibbled by rodents.

The restaurant — which is still open for business — continued to be riddled with to insects and rodent poo on further council visits between March and July this year.

On July 10, Dumpling Hut Pty Ltd, the company which owns Raramen, and company director Siu Hin Yip pleaded guilty to 17 charges under the Food Act 1984 and the Food Standards Code. The charges related to inadequate pest control, unsuitable food handling, poor food storage and inadequate skills, among other issues.

Louisa Dicker, for Monash Council, told Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on July 10 that council officer Troy Schonknecht first visited the restaurant on March 3 for a routine inspection.

According to documents prepared for the court, Mr Schonknecht saw as many as 50 live cockroaches running through the noodle-making and front cooking area, grease, grime, oil and food waste behind cooking equipment and in the cool room and freezer, grease dripping from the stove canopies, encrusted dirt on the stove top, food waste in the microwave and dirty mops and cleaning equipment.

Mr Schonknecht also noted glue traps with peanuts as rodent bait and cockroach faeces in the cool room.

He met with the owner soon after to discuss the state of the restaurant, then returned for several further inspections until early July. Cockroaches, drain flies, dirty benches and cooking equipment were noted at many of the visits.

Magistrate Duncan Reynolds convicted and fined the company $12,000 and ordered it to pay $7000 in costs. He fined the company director, Siu Hin Yip, $5000 without conviction.

Subsequent inspections have found the business to be complying with the regulations.

Source: Waverly Leader, 30 July 2015

Photo Courtesy of Beverly Van Praagh, Windmill, Wildwood

HUME CITY COUNCIL HUME FOOD NEWSIssue 62 Spring 2015www.hume.vic.gov.au

4 HUME FOOD NEWS AUTUMN 2015

Hume City Council 1079 Pascoe Vale Road,

BroadmeadowsPO Box 119 Dallas Victoria 3047

Telephone 03 9205 2200 Facsimile 03 9309 0109

contactus@hume.vic.gov.auwww.hume.vic.gov.au

Around the traps – page 2

Sanitising your food premises – page 3

Trade waste – page 3

Grocery shopping unpacked – page 4

World’s top 50 restaurants – page 4

Is this Australia’s filthiest restaurant – page 4

WORLD’S TOP 50 RESTAURANTSMelbourne’s Attica has retained its position at No. 32 in the S.Pellegrino World’s Best Restaurant list.

Spanish restaurant El Celler de Can Roca has regained its title as the S.Pellegrino World’s Best Restaurant following the announcement of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants award night.

El Celler de Can Roca was previously crowned No.1 in 2013 and was opened in 1986 by brothers Joan and Josep alongside their parents restaurant in Girona. Since then, the brothers together with 2014’s World Best Pastry Chef, Jordi Roca, have built a reputation on combining traditional Catalan ingredients with a variety of unique cooking methods.

Massimo Bottura’s Osteria Francescana moved up to No.2 after two years occupying third place and Denmark’s Noma claimed the No.3 position.

Ben Shewry’s Attica was the highest ranking Australian restaurant retaining the No.32 position.

The top ten are as follows:

El Celler de Can Roca, Girona, Spain

Osteria Franciscana, Modena, Italy

Noma, Copenhagen, Denmark

Central Restaurante, Lima, Peru

Eleven Madison Park, New York, New York

Mugaritz, San Sebastian, Spain

Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, London, UK

Narisawa, Tokyo, Japan

D.O.M., Sao Paulo, Brazil

Gaggan, Bangkok, Thailand

The second half of the list (places 51-100) included three of Australia’s best fine diners. Quay restaurant in Sydney came in at No. 58; Sydney’s Sepia took out the 84th spot; and Brea located in Birregurra, Victoria came in at 87.

Source: www.hospitalitymagazine.com.au

GROCERY SHOPPING UNPACKEDThe quickest days are Monday and Tuesday

The busiest day is Saturday

The busiest times are 8am – 11am

The under 25’s shop on Sunday

The over 65’s shop on Thursday

Spring clean

Just a reminder. Now’s a good time to get rid of of some of the accumulated materials and disused equipment that have built up over the last year and recover some of the valuable space its occupying. If it’s only there to get in the way or catch dust, it can do it somewhere else.

Cleaning the cleaning equipment

It is evident from some Food Safety Programs that the cleaning equipment itself ie mops, scrapers and buckets have not been considered as needing cleaning. As these are the items that will be used for cleaning it would be hoped that they would also be cleaned after use so that they can be ready for their next use.

We recently found a mop handle with a coating 2mm thick of grime built up over time from all the dirty hands that held it – anyone touching it would have to then wash their hands. In another case the mop head was so old and rotten that it dirtied the floor rather than cleaning it.

Lodging a statement of trade (SOT) online

Once you have registered in Streatrader as a mobile or temporary food premises, you must submit a Statement of Trade (SOT) to each relevant Council within Victoria before trading at a public event. Please note, you are not required to submit a SOT for private catering such as parties and weddings.

To lodge a Statement of Trade, you need to go to the Streatrader website, enter your login details and follow the prompts to add each event. This will then get sent to the relevant council for approval. Please note: Statements of Trade are required to be lodged at least one week before the event.

Further information is available at: www.health.vic.gov.au/foodsafety/bus/mobile and if you require any assistance in completing online applications or forms please contact the us on 9205 2599.

Calibrate your thermometers

2 HUME FOOD NEWS SPRING 2015

New Laws For Raw Milk

HUME FOOD NEWS AUTUMN 2015 3

SANITISING YOUR FOOD PREMISESSanitising food preparation surfaces and equipment is one of the most important tasks performed in a food premises.

Sanitising reduces the amount of dangerous bacteria that could harm your customers. Surfaces and equipment should be cleaned with detergent and hot water before they are sanitised. The active ingredient in a sanitisation product must be between 4% - 6%, either chlorine or quaternary ammonium based.

The sanitiser should be clear, as colours can leave residue on surfaces.

Sanitiser can be purchased from a chemical company or can be made by mixing 1.25ml household bleach (4% chlorine) with 1lt of cold water. This must be made fresh every day or as the manufacturer’s directions state. Supermarket ‘spray and wipes’ are not suitable sanitisers as they do not contain the appropriate level of active ingredients.

There are six cleaning steps for food contact surfaces and equipment:

1. Pre-clean: scrape, wipe or sweep away food scraps. Rinse equipment with water

2. Wash: use hot water and detergent to remove grease and dirt. Soak equipment, if needed

3. Rinse: rinse off any loose dirt or detergent foam

4. Sanitise: use a sanitiser to kill remaining germs

5. Final rinse: wash off sanitiser (read sanitiser’s instructions to see if you need to do this)

6. Dry: allow to air dry

TRADE WASTEYarra Valley Water, Western Water and Hume City Council will be joining forces to more effectively manage trade waste generated by food handling businesses.

Council Environmental Health Officers may now check to see that food handling businesses have a grease trap, and may ask to see receipts showing that the grease trap has recently been cleaned as part of their annual food inspections.

To prepare for your next inspection make sure you know where your grease trap is located and keep your receipts showing that it has been regularly cleaned out.

If you do not have a grease trap and/or you do not have the necessary receipts during the food safety inspection, your water authority will contact you to help you better manage your trade waste.

Trade waste is wastewater generated by your food handling business.

Food businesses need to have a trade waste agreement with Yarra Valley Water or Western Water and a working grease trap.

If you’re not sure whether or not your business generates trade waste, please contact the Yarra Valley Water Trade Waste Team on 9872 1240 or Western Water on 1300 650 422, 9am to 4.30pm, Monday to Friday.

AROUND THE TRAPSIntroductionWelcome to the 62nd edition of Hume Food News.

In this issue, around the traps covers some matters that unfortunately often get overlooked until the Health Officer shows up. There is also some advice on lodging a statement of trade for temporary or mobile food premises.

There are articles on sanitising your food premises and disposing of your waste, as well as an article on a business getting into trouble for lack of cleanliness and pest control, who received a $19,000 fine.

Plus don’t forget to check the Food Recalls list.

FSP to be kept on the premises

Your Food Safety Program and associated records must be kept on the premises at all times. If it is not there it will be difficult for you to show that your business is taking all reasonable precautions to ensure that your food is safe. If you are not keeping your Food Safety Program records up to date, now is the best time to start. If you have any problems understanding the Food Safety Program requirements, call Council’s Health Services on 9205 2599 and we will help you.

‘Calibration’ means to test for accuracy. As a rule, equipment should be recalibrated by the manufacturer or an appropriate service agent. Some thermometers come with a calibration test device. A good rule of thumb method for checking the accuracy of your probe thermometer is to check it in iced water at 0ºC. The 0ºC iced water can be achieved by combining 60% ice and 40% cold water in a container and allowing it to stand for 5 minutes. The temperature of the mixture should then be 0ºC. It can then also be checked against boiling water 100ºC. If the thermometer is more than ±1ºC out then it should be repaired or replaced.

Once you have calibrated the thermometer the result should be recorded in your Equipment Calibration Log. This should be recorded at least twice a year.