Vermin, food past its best before date and no hand-washing facilities in kitchens are just some of the horror stories uncovered in Invercargill eateries and shops.

A report commissioned by the Invercargill City Council has uncovered the dirty secrets in 39 food premises in the city.

The damning document shows the problems are not just isolated to takeaway shops, with three grocery stores, a delicatessen, a health shop, cafes, restaurants and dairies all involved in the sting.

Invercargill City Council environmental health manager John Youngson said the report was a surprise and a disappointment, a sentiment shared by the hospitality industry.

Among the problems listed in the report are food being stored in refrigerators and freezers with temperatures too high, ice cream scoops not dried properly, encouraging bacterial growth, and in one case a mice infestation was found.

Three premises did not have hand-washing facilities and two premises did not have soap, towels and nail brushes for washing hands with.

Youngson’s biggest concern was the four food premises with high-risk temperature issues, a danger for food poisoning, he said.

Invercargill Mayor Tim Shadbolt said he was shocked by the report, which he had not seen, and would move swiftly to fix the issues.

Eateries will now have to provide food management plans and the council would look at bringing in a rating system, so people could easily see how the food premises scored on health and safety.

Hospitality New Zealand board member and Winton publican John McHugh said he believed the rating system would be extremely effective.

This may help.

Filion, K. and Powell, D.A. 2011. Designing a national restaurant inspection disclosure system for New Zealand. Journal of Food Protection 74(11): 1869-1874
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The World Health Organization estimates that up to 30% of individuals in developed countries become ill from contaminated food or water each year, and up to 70% of these illnesses are estimated to be linked to food service facilities. The aim of restaurant inspections is to reduce foodborne outbreaks and enhance consumer confidence in food service. Inspection disclosure systems have been developed as tools for consumers and incentives for food service operators. Disclosure systems are common in developed countries but are inconsistently used, possibly because previous research has not determined the best format for disclosing inspection results. This study was conducted to develop a consistent, compelling, and trusted inspection disclosure system for New Zealand. Existing international and national disclosure systems were evaluated. Two cards, a letter grade (A, B, C, or F) and a gauge (speedometer style), were designed to represent a restaurant’s inspection result and were provided to 371 premises in six districts for 3 months. Operators (n = 269) and consumers (n = 991) were interviewed to determine which card design best communicated inspection results. Less than half of the consumers noticed cards before entering the premises; these data indicated that the letter attracted more initial attention (78%) than the gauge (45%). Fifty-eight percent (38) of the operators with the gauge preferred the letter; and 79% (47) of the operators with letter preferred the letter. Eighty-eight percent (133) of the consumers in gauge districts preferred the letter, and 72% (161) of those in letter districts preferring the letter. Based on these data, the letter method was recommended for a national disclosure system for New Zealand.