A SANDHURST kebab shop has been given a food hygiene rating of ‘one’ — but the takeaway’s bosses say the rating is “not fair” because the low mark was awarded due to “inaccurate” and missing documents, rather than poor food safety measures.
Istanbul Kebab, at 72 High Street, Sandhurst, was awarded a rating of one from a maximum ‘top score’ of five and a minimum of zero after being inspected in November 2019.
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Local authority inspectors had ‘little’ confidence in its management, which resulted in a food hygiene rating of ‘one’ overall, meaning ‘major improvement is necessary’.
The News has seen a copy of the inspector’s report after examiners visited late last year.
It showed the restaurant was marked down for:
- Not having a hazard analysis procedure
- Having a ‘disorganised’ ‘Safer Food for Better Business’ pack which was no longer in use
- Having an allergen matrix which was ‘inaccurate’
The News asked shop bosses to comment on the rating, and in response, an Istanbul Kebab representative said the inspection was “not fair” because the takeaway had been marked down for not having the right documents rather than having poor food hygiene practices.
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They added: “We have never received less than four or five stars.
“Anybody who comes down to visit will see everything we do is done properly and has been for 20 years.”
(via yell.com)
Istanbul Kebab’s structural compliance was rated as ‘good’ but and its food hygiene and safety measures were rated as ‘fair’.
The inspector’s report also pointed out some concerns about how food was kept and stored, which included:
- Keeping ready-to-eat foods on the same shelf as raw meat
- Leaving left-over kebab meat in the freezer even though the original product was bought frozen
- Not monitoring temperatures of its chilled or frozen storage
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Takeaway managers have been told to provide food hygiene training for staff, monitor temperatures of their chilled and frozen storage and put in place a documented food safety management system based on hazard analysis procedures.
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