The Brunswick Hotel in Shanklin has been slapped with a 1-star ‘major improvement necessary’ food hygiene rating after inspectors found out-of-date food, risk of E.Coli cross-contamination and a lack of training amongst staff.
Environmental Health inspectors from the Isle of Wight Council visited the Queen’s Road hotel last month and were shocked by what they found, leading to a ‘1’ food hygiene rating – a fall from the previous ‘3’ awarded in November 2021.
Several major issues were found during the inspection on 5th September, including a vacuum packing machine being used for both raw and ready-to-eat food, a number of items including salmon and beef being stored well past their use-by date, plus a lack of appropriate level of knowledge and understanding for those handling food.
According to the official report, food handlers who engaged in the preparation of open, high-risk food – or who manage or supervise other food handlers – had not received any training in relation to the use of complex equipment, such as vacuum packing machines, with staff lacking an appropriate level of knowledge, understanding, and appreciation of the cross-contamination risk.
The vacuum machine, which was also being used for raw food next to a food mixer, was voluntarily prohibited from being used during the inspector’s visit, to stop its dual use for raw and ready-to-eat food.
A number of out-of-date food items were found during the inspection including 3 packets of smoked salmon that were over 2 weeks past their ‘use-by’ date. Other foodstuffs past their use-by included butternut puree, parma ham, a container of fillet beef, a container of Tamora beef and some berries.
Furthermore, strawberries covered in chocolate were left in the fridge uncovered which, according to inspectors, presented a risk of physical contamination of the food.
Inspectors also found that various areas of the walk-in chiller walls were damaged or had the plastic cladding coming apart with gaps. It was also found that the sealant around the sink in the wash-up area was mouldy. Wall, tiles, grouting, electrical plugs and skirting close to the deep fat fryer was also dirty and greasy.
Overall, the cleanliness and condition of facilities and the building was deemed ‘good’, but with major improvement necessary for hygienic food handling and management of food safety.
Responding to the rating, the Brunswick Hotel has told Island Echo in a statement:
“On taking over the business the hotel had a number of issues in the kitchen for example no extraction system, wood work surfaces and a hot plate that didn’t work correctly to name a few, we rectified these and many other issues in that kitchen spending over £50,000.00.
“The Recent 1* is not a reflection on the head chef or managers who were away at the time of the inspection, during the inspection there was no paperwork issues and the only cleaning issue picked up was that of some stained grout between the tiles next to the fryer. His main issue was our water bath and vac pac machine as he had concerns for cross contamination, due to his concerns for this (although we had not had any issues relating to this) the machines have been totally removed from the kitchen. He also picked up some age relating issues to the inside of the fridge which have been addressed, however the entire fridge is being re fitted whilst we are shut next month.
“All front and back of house staff have undergone additional food safety training to ensure they are up to date.
“We are currently waiting for a re inspection and we have taken on board his comments, the date labels fell to the responsibility of the Chef that was in charge whilst the Head Chef was on holiday and he is no longer with us.
“EHO have since been back to check that the areas he had picked up had been improved, which they had and he was happy with the improvements, no date labels, paperwork or hygiene issues were picked up on this visit.
“However I would like to make it clear again that this was not a reflection in the cleaning standard of our kitchen, our team work incredibly hard daily to ensure a high standard is being reached and maintained.
“This score is by no means a reflection of our professionalism or standards, we have been in hospitality for a long time and have never received ratings this low, it is highly frustrating that the main issue during the visit was the vac pac machine and not the standard of our kitchen or the quality of the food we served and yet such a low score was given.
“On returning from holiday both the head chef and management team implemented improvements with immediate effect”.
Food Hygiene Rating – Scores on the doors
Compliance with food hygiene and safety procedures – 20
Compliance with structural requirements – 5
Confidence in management/control procedures – 20
Total score: 45 (1 rating)
Funny that managers, top chef and all the chiefs not around when a compliance officer appears. It there duty to keep on top of QC.
Shocking, there are no excuses for sloppiness.
Absolutely no excuse, total clowns.
Away on holiday…..you should be making sure everything is tip top before you have a holiday..
Well I won’t ever be going there shameful they put peoples health at risk
Well done for letting the public know about these places….
It’s sad that these “Professionals” are making poor excuses for their poor management. It is the duty of the Head chef AND the management to ensure all team are trained in all areas and aspects of the running of a business (or specific area such as the kitchen). While the Chef on duty should be held accountable for things found that could have been rectified during running hours they can’t be held accountable for food 2 weeks out of date! That falls on the head chef! Regardless of the fact he was there or not as he must have been there while the stock was out of date. The fact the chef is no longer there means that Jenna and Paul will have sacked them! That’s not fair!!!! Shame on them! Wrong person reprehended there!
It’s nice to see the managers of this hotel making sure that they hold no blame for this inspection. All of this is on them. It is there responsibility to make sure staff are trained adequately and that the training is kept up to date. Will definitely not be eating there again based on their attitude to their staff.
This is no surprise to me at all. I was in a party of 4 who stayed in the Hotel last Christmas. I can honestly say it was the worst Xmas we have ever had in an hotel and we have been going away in the UK on a Christmas Package for the last 10 years+. The food in particular was most certainly not Award Winning (Chef has/had a Rosette) which the Hotel boasted about. Vegetables were either under or over cooked and the meat was frequently undercooked, or tough. There was a “fine dining” presentation to the food which seemed to be designed to mask its tastelessness. We also got the impression that the staff had a fear/siege mentality. No proper lounge/bar area for guests to relax together. I could go on …
I’m not surprised as there food taste like dog shit!