Dirty utensils, false safety checks and a lack of Covid preventative measures – the full details of a zero hygiene rating for the Lake Kebab House have been revealed.
Following an inspection over two days in February, and a visit the week before, the takeaway, on Sandown Road, was awarded the worst food hygiene rating an establishment can get by the Isle of Wight Council’s environmental health officers.
Owner says work has been done
Since the inspection was carried out, owner of the takeaway, Bulent Korkmaz, has said work has been done to bring everything up to standard with photographs, sent to media outlets, showing cleaned up surfaces and areas around the eatery, which had been marked as problematic by inspectors.
Improvements made, but more needed
In the officers’ report, it was noted that the general standard of hygiene was reasonable and much improved from previous inspections, but there were areas requiring cleaning, including the flooring throughout, worktops and shelves, hand washbasins and fridge and freezer handles.
Inspectors found where the equipment and utensils which touched high-risk foods were only being washed with a detergent, instead of a bacterial cleaner and when the equipment was seen drying after an ‘attempted’ wash they were still greasy and had food remnants on them.
Lack of understanding
The person in charge of the food safety management system lacked the appropriate level of understanding to implement control, not knowing what the opening and closing checks were although they had supposedly been completed on the days of inspection.
The dirty details
Other areas where inspectors raised concerns include:
- Dirty protective clothing worn by staff.
- Staff handling high-risk foods not provided with suitable protective clothing.
- The pizza flour container in a dirty condition.
- Food waste left in open bins in the kitchen overnight.
- An opening in the freezer coolant pipework was large enough that pests could enter when fan was not in use.
- Damaged work surfaces in the freezer and washing up room were not easy to keep clean or disinfect.
- Damaged walls in disrepair and cracked or missing ceiling panels, all with the risk of contaminating food, surfaces and equipment.
- Food packaging, bags of rubbish and food waste spills were in the alley directly outside the kitchen, which may attract pests.
Lack of Covid controls
Due to the Covid pandemic, other measures have to be put in place to ensure customer and staff safety.
In the inspection, however, officers found issues that showed no suitable control measures had been implemented.
These included a lack of face coverings worn by employees; no social distancing; no enforcement of shop capacity..
A chequered history
The takeaway has had a chequered history with food hygiene inspections, scoring as high as a four in August 2017, but as low as a one in June 2019 which was then improved to a two, four months later.
A follow-up inspection was taking place shortly after the findings of the report were made public, but the results are not yet known.
This article is from the BBC’s LDRS (Local Democracy Reporter Service) scheme, which News OnTheWight is part of. Read here to find about more about how that scheme works on the Island. Some alterations and additions may have been made by News OnTheWight. Ed
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