main content Restaurant pleads guilty to food safety failings

Chapter One restaurant operated by RJ Gook Ltd pleaded guilty to one charge of failing to review its food safety systems at a hearing on Wednesday 6 April 2005 at Bromley Magistrates' Court.

This follows an investigation into a suspected food poisoning outbreak by Food Safety Officers from the London Borough of Bromley in July 2004.

Paul Lehane Food Safety Team manager said “ We did not find any direct evidence that the eggs used at Chapter One had caused any illness but the failure to purchase eggs from an approved supplier from safe flocks was serious because the restaurant use lightly cooked eggs and they were putting customers at risk. The company have acted responsibly and cooperated fully during the investigation and now use pasteurised eggs to ensure food safety. ”

Officers found that the company had prepared a comprehensive system to ensure food safety but that it was not being fully reviewed and eggs had been purchased from a non-approved supplier during July 2004. The company should have been purchasing Lion quality eggs that are free from salmonella but were found to have purchased eggs from another source as the company’s normal supplier of eggs was unable to supply the company at the time.

Eggs are widely used in catering and in some dishes they are not fully cooked, which means that any salmonella present may not be killed. Currently Spanish eggs are being linked to a number of outbreaks of food poising on the UK.

The Company was fined £3,000 for the offence and the Council was awarded costs of £5,344.

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

R J Gook Limited trading as Chapter One Restaurant at Locks Bottom in Farnborough Kent, pleaded guilty to an offence under regulation 4(3)(e) of the Food Safety (General Food Hygiene) Regulations 1995.

The Regulations state: Regulation 4 (3) A proprietor of a food business shall identify any step in the activities of the food business which is critical to ensuring food safety and ensure that adequate safety procedures are identified, implemented, maintained and reviewed on the basis of the following principles -

1. analysis of the potential food hazards in a food business operation;
2. identification of the points in those operations where food hazards may occur;
3. deciding which of the points identified are critical to ensuring food safety ("critical points");
4. identification and implementation of effective control and monitoring procedures at those critical points; and
5. review of the analysis of food hazards, the critical points and the control and monitoring procedures periodically, and whenever the food business's operations change.

These systems are known as HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points).

For media enquiries, please contact Andrew Rogers, Communications Advisor on 020 8461 7670 or Paul Lehane, Food Safety manager on 020 8313 4216 or email Andrew.rogers@bromley.gov.uk.