700 Adelaide restaurants fail health test

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MORE than 700 Adelaide restaurants have been warned or fined over health breaches in the past year but none has been placed on the State Government's name-and-shame register.

SA Health's publicly available list of eateries prosecuted for breaking food safety laws currently only lists one business, which was found guilty of obstructing an inspector in 2008.

Critics say current reporting systems deny customers information about the food they are eating and exposes them to risk of sickness or death from food poisoning.

Health Minister John Hill says the Government will consider calls for reform including a UK-style system forcing businesses to display results from health inspection on their front doors.

The so-called "scores on the doors" system has been proposed by independent MP Bob Such, who commissioned a survey into health standards at eateries across Adelaide.

The survey finds the 19 metropolitan and Mt Barker councils executed 8058 inspections in the year to July and uncovered 712 breaches.

Officers issued 355 written warnings, 264 improvement notices and 92 fines to businesses for breaking health regulations.

Holdfast Bay council, which includes the prime tourist areas of Glenelg and Brighton, uncovered breaches including worms in oysters and lettuce as well as an automatic fly poisoning unit installed in a dining area.

A Woodville bakery was successfully prosecuted by Port Adelaide Enfield council in February and shut down after officers discovered rodent droppings and raw chicken stored at unsafe temperatures.

Despite the prosecution, the business has not been placed on the name and shame register. A spokeswoman for Mr Hill said it would be added this week after being alerted to its absence by The Advertiser.

Myponga's Scarfy's Home Made Cookies - found guilty of obstructing an authorised council inspector in July 2008 - is the only business to be seen on the list.

Mr Hill said the Government was "constantly reviewing" monitoring and compliance regimes and would consider introducing the scores on the doors system.

"There are currently a wide range of enforcement options available to council officers when they discover a breach of the Food Act including issuing expiation notices, prohibition orders and prosecution under the Food Act or Food Standards Code," Mr Hill said. "We are working with businesses to ensure standards are met and the public can have confidence in the food industry in South Australia."

Dr Such said reform was urgently needed to make food hygiene inspections and reporting processes more transparent.

"It is a fundamental entitlement for people to know whether the restaurant they are going into, the place retailing food, or any other business involved in selling or handling food, is up to what should be a high standard," he said. "You can't find out whether a restaurant or food outlet has dirty premises or poor food-handling practices unless they get prosecuted and go to court. It is not good enough.

"We should take away the veil of secrecy that currently exists, because, at the end of the day, we have a right to know what we are eating, how the food was prepared and how it is made available to us."

Each year, food poisoning affects more than 5.4 million Australians and kills more than 120.

Mitcham council manager, environmental services, Stephen Saffin called for consideration to be given to introducing the scores on the doors system in a letter he wrote in response to the survey.

Local Government Association president Felicity-ann Lewis said councils preferred to work with restaurants over hygiene issues rather than name and shame them into possible bankruptcy.

"The system is working pretty well at the moment," she said.

"We want to be proactive with the restaurants rather than take to them with a big stick."

Ms Lewis said the scores on the doors system "sounds fine and reasonable" but would be logistically difficult to implement.

"The cost of having to continually monitor every restaurant would be substantial," she said.

"With any suggestion like this you have to weigh up the pluses and the minuses.

"It is a good thing to always be looking to raise the bar but you have to remain practical."

今天报纸头条啊。。。早上听广播也说勒。。。