Decaying bugs, rancid and mouldy food and a generally dirty kitchen have led to a 0 food hygiene rating for The Hungry Caterpillar Cafe at Butterfly World and Medina Garden Centre near Wootton.
Environmental Health inspectors visited the café on 15th August and were so shocked by what they found, they re-visited just a week later. In a report seen by Island Echo, the full horrors of what inspectors found have now been revealed.
Inspectors reported that they found rancid and mouldy cucumbers, tomatoes and cheese, alongside out-of-date boiled eggs and sandwiches, during their August visit. Furthermore, there was a large amount of food in the fridge that did not have any date labels affixed. Bacon was found to be stored on top of bread rolls in 2 compartments of an upright freezer.
Dead flies and large beetles were discovered decaying above the shelves overhanging the griddle and deep fat fryer, with cobwebs and other dead insects evident around the kitchen.
It was also discovered that high-risk food items such as corned beef sandwiches were being stored in a chiller at a temperature of 9.9c. The items were disposed of voluntarily during the inspection, but may otherwise have been sold to customers.
A display refrigerator had stagnant water and old food debris inside, which had started to decay within the glass door sliders. The rear storage fridge also had mould forming inside.
Overall the general standard of hygiene was poor, with various areas requiring a deep clean. The floors were dirty with old food debris and the utensil cupboards had spiders inside them. Other dirty areas included worktops, fridges, the hot holding unit, the griddle, deep fat fryers and the hot drinks machine, among others.
A risk of contamination was identified as the temperature probe was not being sanitised before or after each measurement and paint was seen flaking off the microwaves. The reheating of food was noted to be taking place at just 63c, not the recommended 75c.
Other issues found include tea towels being washed at 60c, freezers in disarray and daily temperature checks not being carried out.
The Hungry Caterpillar declined to comment when approached by Island Echo.
Food Hygiene Rating – Scores on the doors
Compliance with food hygiene and safety procedures – 15
Compliance with structural requirements – 20
Confidence in management/control procedures – 20
Total score: 55 (0 rating)
Places like this should be shut down.
No wonder the caterpillar was hungry, even it wouldn’t eat the disgusting mush. Close it down.
I know from experience that the owners of Medina Garden Centre have persistently cut corners when it comes to following regulations. I knew one of their employees who quit because he refused to sign off on Health & Safety requirements they he knew had not been met. When challenged by DWP over his entitlement to unemployment pay he provided them with enough evidence to meet their challenge.
The hungry caterpillar.?
Vile.
I’d rather eat from the human centipede.
To be fair when you drive into the car park it is all overgrown and tatty.
It has gone down hill since the Chinese company took them over
It should be shut down straight away
To be honest you only have to drive into the car park to see how unkempt the place is !!!!!
Wouldn’t eat there if I was starving……
Never Would’ve have happened when Christine was there , spotless , money spent when needed ,staff worked hard ….
Place was amazing…..
Put this place in the bin
I went there few years back its was dire then.2 really old dears serving…had no clue! We just had a Sarn…gross was!
Goodness me. I do hope no one has been poisoned by this bunch of halfwits.
In Malaysia they call this “free extra food!”
We went in July. The food was disgusting. My teenager insisted on writing a bad review on Trip Advisor. The butterfly world bit is also not as good as in the past. The whole place needs closing down. It gives a bad rep to the island.
With all those dead bugs they should get Yoko Ono to run the cafe.
She’s been living off dead beetles for decades….
We stopped eating out, too many dirty places you just cant trust anymore.
A well known place in Freshwater where we take an elderly relative for a coffee….you can see into the kitchen when queuing they were making up salads on plates with bare hands !
Its just disgusting that people are paying quite a lot of money for such filthy food and contamination.
Yep, we ate here recently and were slightly concerned about ‘things’ lurking in the corners of the display fridges.