Takeaways - am I being fussy?

[ChemicalChaos]

Having a debate with a friend earlier. I stated that I will not buy food from a high street takeaway unless it clearly has a green hygiene rating label in the front window, with at least 4 out of 5 on it. Very usually this means only visiting big chains like McD or Burger King, but personally I've seen enough horror stories (with pictures) in the newspapers of places that have been shut down to put me off an unknown takeaway for life. Plus, even if it's hygienic, the cheapo burgers and kebabs are probably made from "boneless pork rectums" or something similar....
Apparently, holding the above view makes me extremely fussy in the eyes of said friend, who would probably happily eat a tramp's sock if you offered it to him whilst staggering back from a club.
Am I being unreasonable here?

[dazco]

The only thing I would question here is that if it tastes good, at that time of night, who cares what it is made of.

[PurpleTurtle]

Where I live (Reading) the Council assess all takeaways for food hygiene, it's all viewable online.

I always swerve anything less than 4/5!

[mph1977]

the chains should all get 5/5 as they have the SSOWs and paperwork to back everything up - if they don;t it;s management issue although 4/5 is probably pretty damn safe

indys getting 4/5 are probably as safe as the chains getting 5/5 but unless they've documented everything to death like the chains do ...

you've got to make your own call on a chain takeaway that gets a 3 and have a bit of think obut an indy getting a 3 ....

[dazco]

And in response to your question, yes, you are being fussy.

It's not a bad thing but it is definitely fussy

[ChemicalChaos]

Thing is, I bet a lot of the indys do get a 4/5.. but why dont they proudly display it somewhere prominent? Not doing so makes me think they have something to hide, and so walk on past

[mattley]

My local Chinese has no stars from the council.

Eat there loads, never been ill. A big chunk of the ratings are based on having procedures in place in the case of complaints, another chunk is just about filling in forms properly.

[dazco]

mattley said:

My local Chinese has no stars from the council.

Eat there loads, never been ill. A big chunk of the ratings are based on having procedures in place in the case of complaints, another chunk is just about filling in forms properly.

Not true at all


And the forms you refer to are records of temperatures

[21TonyK]

Being honest, probably not being unreasonable. But, as has been eluded to a food premises lose the greatest number of marks in the scoring system if they do not have proper records showing that they record food temperatures for both storage and cooking. Also, staff training and cleaning records. Do all of this and you get a reasonable score.

Its nothing to do with food. EHP's don't care whats in your food or what it tastes like. As long as its safe to eat, you can prove it and the place is clean then you'll get a 5.

[Hoover.]

I'd say you are fussy........


If the place looks ok, it's good enough for me..... especially if ... how else am I going to get a keebab

[bitchstewie]

Our local chippy has their 5 star displayed in the window.

One of our local curry houses has their takeaway menus in the holder with last years 5 stars crossed out with marker pen and "4" written in its place.

If I saw somewhere proudly displaying 1 or 2 stars it would make me think - in reality those places don't display their award so most people (myself included) probably don't think about it.

[truck71]

I think you need to up your drinking game, if you're thinking about bab hygiene after a night on the lash it hasn't done the trick.

[hairyben]

I'm pretty sceptical of the whole scores-on-the-door since our local curry house went from 4 to 1. This place is exquisite, probably the best we've ever eaten at, I know SOTD is about hygene but you simply don't make food this good by not taking care, and we've eaten there most weeks for the last few years and never been ill.

Kebab shop round the corner, was pretty decent, 4*, gave me the full on liquid ass the (very) last time I had something from there.

And as for KFC and their 5*/sponsoring of SOTD, I had a burger from them once that I opened to find it had a bite taken from it...

I notice the tea room and coffee bar in the local HOSPITAL have 1* and 0* respectively though


Here's an interesting one. very popular local restaurant, not eaten there personally though:

http://www.scoresonthedoors.org.uk/business/la-cav...

So despite scoring "very good" on food hygene and safety, the "structural compliance" and "confidence in management" brings the score down to 1*

It's starting to all seem a bit like part p (I'm a sparky), you can run an outfit employing 10 ropey dheads making constant mistakes with a stream of angry complainants and sail through your inspections but they'll fk in the ass the little guy with really fastidious top notch installation work who's paperwork is lacking some of the crap that only see's the light of day once a year that they like to see.

[21TonyK]

hairyben said:

I'm pretty sceptical of the whole scores-on-the-door since our local curry house went from 4 to 1. This place is exquisite, probably the best we've ever eaten at, I know SOTD is about hygene but you simply don't make food this good by not taking care, and we've eaten there most weeks for the last few years and never been ill

........

It's starting to all seem a bit like part p (I'm a sparky), you can run an outfit employing 10 ropey dheads making constant mistakes with a stream of angry complainants and sail through your inspections but they'll fk in the ass the little guy with really fastidious top notch installation work who's paperwork is lacking some of the crap that only see's the light of day once a year that they like to see.

There is an element of this. "Back in the day" we had an inspection when we took over a restaurant, knowing it was in a poor state.

All our systems were watertight but the building was falling apart, holes in the ceiling in the food store and no glass in a window!! Still got a provisional 4 with a whole list of advisories to complete before we opened. Did all the work and a lot more, brought the place up to standard and well beyond. Re-inspected and got a 5.

No further inspection for a couple of years. Next time round, having been trading for two years we got a surprise inspection on Valentines day. Chef really not impressed! Up to his eyes in it and was very rude to EHP, basically told her to f*ck off and he didn't give a s*it what she thought. EHP picked up on the use of sous vide and the fact we had not actually got proof that cooking something at 55 for 12 hours pasturises it despite mountains of paperwork for production records and evidence from manufacturers and authoritative sources. Also an upright freezer needed defrosting and something else about a dishwasher. She really made her point and we got a 3.

Took 3 months to get a reinspection to go back up to a five.

Fundamentally I still believe it's a good system and it does what it is designed to do but its very simplistic and if you just "follow the rules" you could still be a hazard without knowing it.

It's like when my staff start spouting stuff about chopping boards and knives when they've done a basic food hygiene course and they see me using the same knife all day (sanitised and honed between jobs normally!)

[craigjm]

What would your kitchen at home score under the same criteria OP?

[BoRED S2upid]

You won't eat from a take away without some government mark but you will eat McDonald's that only just classes as food?

[dazco]

bhstewie said:

Our local chippy has their 5 star displayed in the window.

One of our local curry houses has their takeaway menus in the holder with last years 5 stars crossed out with marker pen and "4" written in its place.

If I saw somewhere proudly displaying 1 or 2 stars it would make me think - in reality those places don't display their award so most people (myself included) probably don't think about it.

I have just researched this a little bit, because I live in Scotland and the hygiene cert is different, and it is interesting to note that any food outlet in Wales that is inspected after 28th November 2013 HAS to display their hygiene rating.

It is not compulsory in England

[vixen1700]

truck71 said:

I think you need to up your drinking game, if you're thinking about bab hygiene after a night on the lash it hasn't done the trick.

This really, sometimes after a decent session a dirty kebab is the only thing that can hit the spot.

Yes, you're being way too fussy.

[chrisispringles]

You are being fussy. The last thing I'm thinking about when getting a takeaway is food hygiene. I just want some filthy scoff. I've only gotten ill from a takeout once in the three years I've been at uni.

[bitchstewie]

I think where it hits home a little, for me at least, is that I often drive through certain areas of Birmingham where there are a lot - I mean every third shop is one - of takeaways and there are some even from the street you just couldn't pay me to eat there.

I do get that hygiene isn't the same as food quality, but if a place is a stheap I don't really care about the food quality.

I guess it does raise a fundamental question of whether a perfectly stored and cooked "Kerry Katona" type burger is "better" or worse than top quality food stored and cooked in appalling hygiene conditions.

As for the McDonalds comment, I've always had the view that you can most likely trace any McDonalds meal way more than you could a meal from most other restaurants irrespective of cost - if you don't like the taste of it that's fair enough but it's just snobbery IMO to suggest it's poor quality.