Convictions of food businesses by WA Department of Health
Further to my post yesterday, I thought I would write a little more about the location of information about convictions and businesses against various food preparation/storage/sale regulations by Department of Health. Website is here: http://www.public.health.wa.gov.au/2/825/2/notification_of.pm and it has a pdf that can be downloaded to show the most recent convictions (although most recent are from early 2008). The most recent update has quite a lot of convictions in south east metro area, so I don’t know if that area was a target for their investigations, reveals particularly poor standards in the area or whether its more a coincidence.
The short version of places to be wary of is: BBH Hot Bread Shop in Stratton, Nandos in Canningvale, Utopia in Northbridge (come on, calling a restaurant Utopia they are asking for trouble!), Spencer Village food court in Thornlie, Thornlie Halal Meats and Supermarket, Lloyds Bakery and Lunch Bar in Maddington, Wu Ming in Canningvale, Chicken Treat in Maddington, Turkish Kitchen in Maddington, Foodworks Supermarket in Atwell (this one is for selling food past use-by date and incorrect storage of products, 3 separate occasions though), Bunbury French Hot Bread Shop, McDonalds in Midland, La Cascade in Nedlands and Hans in Leederville.
I also had a very bad experience at a supermarket over the Australia Day long weekend recently and thought I would write a word of warning about the Foodworks store in Cannington (45 Cecil Ave, next to Carousel Shopping Centre). If you are not familiar with the name it used to be Farmer Jacks and before that Action, and before that a rollerskating rink (yes I have been around that long!). Normally I go to the IGA on William St Beckenham, but this weekend I decided to try the Foodworks store. I am glad I went, but only to be clear in my resolve to NEVER shop there again. I had been there several times when it was Action and it was never that good, hence why I didn't usually think to go there. However this trip was truly eye-opening. Firstly, the fresh produce section was of very poor quality generally, vegies looked wilted and carrots had weird white stuff growing on the skin. Generally throughout the store there was a lack of range (ie. even the physically much smaller Beckenham IGA seemed to have a better range of the things I was interested in buying, not too out of the ordinary I would think but for some reason neither of them stock mineral water - they are missing out on the fizzy water market in a major way I think). Refridgerated section at Foodworks seemed not too bad though there were a few items (dips) that seemed too close to their use by dates (indicating perhaps a lack of turn over of stock). Last (and worst) was the freezer section, which I was dismayed to learn was NOT ACTUALLY FROZEN. Cold yes, but NOT FROZEN. I was first alerted when the puff pastry I picked up drooped in my hands, and I checked along the row of freezers and the icecream, pie section and vegetable section were all affected. Yes it was a hot day, but frozen foods should definitely be frozen and not just cold. At this point I decided to abandon my shopping trip and bought the barest minimum (no frozen items). I informed the guy at the checkout, who already knew about the problem (he just said "oh yeah the freezers are broken today"). As far as I could see there were only two checkout operators on, and I couldn't see anyone who looked like a manager so I left, never to return. However, afterwards I became very worried by the idea that there was no signage to tell people freezers were not working and when they get the freezers to work again they would just re-freeze everything and sell it as normal to customers, a very big no-no for food safety and quality. So now I am following up with the City of Canning to put in a complaint but thought I would record it here too.
The short version of places to be wary of is: BBH Hot Bread Shop in Stratton, Nandos in Canningvale, Utopia in Northbridge (come on, calling a restaurant Utopia they are asking for trouble!), Spencer Village food court in Thornlie, Thornlie Halal Meats and Supermarket, Lloyds Bakery and Lunch Bar in Maddington, Wu Ming in Canningvale, Chicken Treat in Maddington, Turkish Kitchen in Maddington, Foodworks Supermarket in Atwell (this one is for selling food past use-by date and incorrect storage of products, 3 separate occasions though), Bunbury French Hot Bread Shop, McDonalds in Midland, La Cascade in Nedlands and Hans in Leederville.
I also had a very bad experience at a supermarket over the Australia Day long weekend recently and thought I would write a word of warning about the Foodworks store in Cannington (45 Cecil Ave, next to Carousel Shopping Centre). If you are not familiar with the name it used to be Farmer Jacks and before that Action, and before that a rollerskating rink (yes I have been around that long!). Normally I go to the IGA on William St Beckenham, but this weekend I decided to try the Foodworks store. I am glad I went, but only to be clear in my resolve to NEVER shop there again. I had been there several times when it was Action and it was never that good, hence why I didn't usually think to go there. However this trip was truly eye-opening. Firstly, the fresh produce section was of very poor quality generally, vegies looked wilted and carrots had weird white stuff growing on the skin. Generally throughout the store there was a lack of range (ie. even the physically much smaller Beckenham IGA seemed to have a better range of the things I was interested in buying, not too out of the ordinary I would think but for some reason neither of them stock mineral water - they are missing out on the fizzy water market in a major way I think). Refridgerated section at Foodworks seemed not too bad though there were a few items (dips) that seemed too close to their use by dates (indicating perhaps a lack of turn over of stock). Last (and worst) was the freezer section, which I was dismayed to learn was NOT ACTUALLY FROZEN. Cold yes, but NOT FROZEN. I was first alerted when the puff pastry I picked up drooped in my hands, and I checked along the row of freezers and the icecream, pie section and vegetable section were all affected. Yes it was a hot day, but frozen foods should definitely be frozen and not just cold. At this point I decided to abandon my shopping trip and bought the barest minimum (no frozen items). I informed the guy at the checkout, who already knew about the problem (he just said "oh yeah the freezers are broken today"). As far as I could see there were only two checkout operators on, and I couldn't see anyone who looked like a manager so I left, never to return. However, afterwards I became very worried by the idea that there was no signage to tell people freezers were not working and when they get the freezers to work again they would just re-freeze everything and sell it as normal to customers, a very big no-no for food safety and quality. So now I am following up with the City of Canning to put in a complaint but thought I would record it here too.