Food fright: Bathurst restaurants named and shamed over food safety laws

The register was established in 2008 to help NSW diners make informed decisions about where they eat or buy food.

The NSW Food Authority publishes lists of businesses that have breached food safety laws and Bathurst KFC, the Great Wall Chinese Restaurant and Domino’s have all been added in the past 30 days.

The breaches, however, date back several months and include fines for a range of offences including failing to meet suitable standards of cleanliness, failing to ensure staff were properly trained in hygiene and failing to properly eradicate pests in the outlet.

Bathurst Regional Council is responsible for conducting local food inspections and acting environmental, planning and building services director Richard Denyer yesterday said council regularly visited eateries across the region.

Mr Denyer said council employed two health surveyors who kept tabs on about 250 “high to medium risk” food outlets in Bathurst, along with temporary food outlets at the Royal Bathurst Show and Mount Panorama race meetings.

“Typically a penalty notice will only be issued at the end of the enforcement process,” Mr Denyer said.

“As part of the inspection regime, inspectors will either find that everything is satisfactory, that there is something that can be dealt with on the day of the visit or they might go to an improvement notice identifying changes that need to be made.

“We then only go to an infringement notice as a last resort.”

The Domino’s outlet at Kelso was the hardest hit of the Bathurst region eateries, receiving three breach notices and fines totalling $2640 following a council inspection in January.

Domino’s was found to have failed to maintain its premises and equipment to the required standard of cleanliness ($880); failed to ensure food contact surfaces were clean ($880); and failed to ensure that staff had skills and knowledge in food safety and food hygiene ($880).

Council inspectors visited Bathurst KFC in February and found two breaches.

The outlet was fined $880 for failing to take all practicable measures to eradicate pests and a further $880 for failing to maintain the food premises to the required standard of cleanliness.

The Great Wall was handed two breach notices after falling foul of inspectors last December.

The restaurant was found to have failed to maintain the food premises to the required standard of cleanliness ($440); and failed to take all necessary steps to prevent the likelihood of food being contaminated ($440).