HolisticGirl
Arnold
Lara MLow Food Hygiene in Sydney Restaurants
May 20th 2007 12:01
A recent article in the Sydney Morning Herald suggests that hygiene in Sydney’s restaurants is of a generally low standard. This is attributed to a lack of knowledge on the part of workers and a lack of policing on the part of authorities.
“And yet contaminated food, whether it be from the home, restaurants or takeaways, puts about 18,000 people in hospital and causes about 120 deaths each year, according to the federal Department of Health.”
These figures appear quite shocking, though are not really put in perspective with statistics from other countries or time periods. To be fair though it does mention that salmonella cases have increased by 13 per cent in the past five years.
One solution suggested is the introduction of compulsory safe food handling courses, similar to the Responsible Service of Alcohol certificate required by bar workers.
But surely further red tape and bureaucracy is not going to be an effective solution. To add further expense and difficulty for restaurant owners and workers will just make this often industry even more restricted. Perhaps an alternative would again be for the government to take more responsibility and increase including publicly available resource materials and clearly stated legal requirements. Then use inspectors as a tool to enforce and encourage these new initiatives.
“And yet contaminated food, whether it be from the home, restaurants or takeaways, puts about 18,000 people in hospital and causes about 120 deaths each year, according to the federal Department of Health.”
These figures appear quite shocking, though are not really put in perspective with statistics from other countries or time periods. To be fair though it does mention that salmonella cases have increased by 13 per cent in the past five years.
One solution suggested is the introduction of compulsory safe food handling courses, similar to the Responsible Service of Alcohol certificate required by bar workers.
But surely further red tape and bureaucracy is not going to be an effective solution. To add further expense and difficulty for restaurant owners and workers will just make this often industry even more restricted. Perhaps an alternative would again be for the government to take more responsibility and increase including publicly available resource materials and clearly stated legal requirements. Then use inspectors as a tool to enforce and encourage these new initiatives.
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