Restaurant given poor rating in inspection

A INDIAN restaurant in Watlington has been criticised by environmental health inspectors.

House of Spice in Couching Street was awarded one star out of five following an inspection as part of the Scores on the Doors scheme.

While it was rated “good” for food handling, cleanliness required improvement and food management needed “major” improvement.

The inspection in August revealed that there was no hot running water in the hand wash basin or kitchen sinks, and that the washing-up bottle and sanitiser bottles were dirty and needed to be sanitised.

Areas including freezers, knife handles, microwaves, fridges, taps and wash basins were also dirty and required “thorough cleaning and disinfection”.

The report, which was released by the district council, also said the plastic containers used for storing food were damaged and discoloured and so could not be cleaned easily.

It said: “You are currently using cardboard packaging throughout the kitchen. Cardboard packaging cannot be readily cleaned and may contain pests and must not be used in food preparation areas or storage.

“There was raw food stored next to ready to eat food in your fridge. Ensure you store raw foods away from ready to eat foods to prevent cross contamination.

“It was noted that staff did not adequately wash their hands after handling raw meat. They rinsed their hands under the taps at the equipment sink in cold water and did not use soap.

“The following items of equipment are dirty and require thorough cleaning and disinfection: bonza can opener, handles of knives, microwave handles and inside, a number of plastic food bowls and containers, door and handle to the fridge in the store room, silver larder fridges in the kitchen have dirty shelving, small white fridge in kitchen has dirty shelving. Dirty fridge seals and handles and the taps to the hand wash basin have a greasy film.”

The report gave the restaurant more than 14 requirements and recommendations to improve its rating, including the better storing of raw food, repairing of work surfaces and training of staff in food safety.

The restaurant did not respond to a request for comment.