Is Your Restaurant Eat Safe Rated?
In November 2010, Brisbane City Council took a major step forward in raising consumer awareness about the safety of our food and the premises in which it is prepared.
Eat Safe is a program that endeavours to educate the restaurateurs as well as the public as to which food service businesses provide the best quality food safety in the city.
To date, it seems that the program has been a success, with many business owners proudly displaying their star rating for consumers to see, hoping that the good rating will lead to good word of mouth PR and so on. One of the greatest marketing tools a business can have is a great reputation and even better word of mouth marketing. There is now also discussion of the Eat Safe campaign being rolled out on the Gold Coast by the Gold Coast City Council.
So, what does the Eat Safe campaign measure?
• An accredited HACCP plan
• An ISO 22000:2005 plan
• Temperature records
• Training records
• Pest control records
• Cleaning and maintenance records
• Stock rotation schedules
• Waste collection records
When you review the list above, many of the measurements are not seen by the general public. The two measurements that do stand out for the consumer are pest control and cleanliness. We’ve all been in the situation where we’ve walked into a restaurant and the tables and floors have been dirty or we’ve seen a cockroach. Usually, the instant reaction is to immediately leave – particularly with the latter. Seeing any type of pest or rodent in a food premises is more than enough to be damaging to a business.
Consumer behaviour research has shown that 9% of hotel guests (and remember many of these hotels have in house restaurants and bars) will tell at least 10 other people about a negative experience. But negative perception isn’t the only problem with pests. They also carry many pathogens that can cause serious illness in humans. That’s why health inspectors will often shut down food premises with pest infestations.
In Brisbane only 79% of those businesses that undertook the star rating actually received a two star rating or higher. That leaves a massive 21% of businesses that are not compliant and would potentially be shut down. In 2010 it was reported that more than 14 Brisbane food businesses had been prosecuted by Brisbane City Council and fined a total of $338,000 for breaching hygiene and food safety standards. The main breaches: poor or no pest control.
Poor food hygiene and pest control has been the topic of many news stories for current affairs programs such as Today Tonight and A Current Affair. We’ve all seen the footage from hidden, and sometimes the not-so hidden cameras showing dead rodents in traps or cockroaches running across the floors, flies in the food preparation areas. All of this can be prevented.
One of the biggest issues that the pest control industry face with clients is a lack of education about pests. For example, a pair of German cockroaches – which is the number one problem for kitchen and food preparation areas – can breed up to 42 cockroaches within one month. By month two, if there has been no monthly pest control treatment for them, the German cockroach can breed up to 882 other cockroaches.
Regular pest control servicing, particularly for food industry businesses, is imperative to the overall food hygiene and safety of the business.
Nathan Whiteside, the national operations manager for Elders Pest Control, advises food industry businesses “to make sure they have a licenced pest technician and have a comprehensive pest program in place that covers areas such as food storage, waste management and food preparation areas – plus al fresco dining areas that are so popular in Queensland restaurants and hotels.”
To ensure that your business will be compliant with the health and safety inspector, and the Eat Safe star rating, ask yourself the following questions next time you book a pest control service:
1. Has the company provided me with details of the products used and are these safe for use around food preparation areas?
2. Will the pest control company provide me with an adequate record of the services that they have done and are these services catered to the changing seasons?
3. Will the pest control company advise me of what my potential pest infestation problems could be and what I can do to help minimise their impact if found?
With business being so competitive these days, it’s in the best interests of restaurateurs to ensure that their pest control program receives as much importance as their menu selections.
Hayley Brownrigg
Elders Pest Control
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