Queens Bistro bosses said they were ‘really upset’ with the rating and vowed to improve
Inspectors visiting a critically-acclaimed Liverpool bistro raised concerns about out-of-date food and cleaning procedures, a new report has revealed.
Queens Bistro, which is nestled in between the shops and artisan venues of Queen Avenue off Castle Street, has been heralded by the likes of Guardian food critic Jay Rayner but was hit with a shock food hygiene rating of zero after an inspection in the summer. The Bistro bosses previously told the ECHO they were ‘very upset’ with the rating and was working hard to be compliant in all areas.
The unannounced inspection was carried out by a team from Liverpool Council’s environmental health department on August 15 and resulted in the highly regarded bistro being slapped with a zero rating for food hygiene, the lowest rating available from the Food Standards Agency.
The ECHO has now received the full report using Freedom of Information laws, which reveals what inspectors found during the visit that led them to award the zero rating.
Under the section of the report discussing compliance with food hygiene and safety procedures, the inspectors reported finding a number of frozen foods in a chest freezer that were past their in-house use by date as well as some food stuffs with no durability information and some past their manufacturers use by date label. These included a container of fish trim dated from November 29 of the previous year and lamb chops labelled with the same date.
The report instructs: “As the food business operator, you have a legal responsibility to ensure that the foods you are offering/displaying for sale are safe and fit for human consumption. You must ensure you check your stock daily and dispose of any out of date, or otherwise unfit foods i.e. foods with an expired use-by date.”
Under the section of the report looking at cleaning and disinfection procedures, the inspectors found that the business was missing a pump mechanism for a surface sanitiser concentrate, meaning that staff members were guessing the dilution rate. The report added: “You must ensure that accurate dilution rates of your surface sanitizers are correct so that they can work effectively in killing any bacteria on surfaces.”
There were also contraventions identified in the areas of maintenance and cleaning, with the report stating: “You were not complying with relevant requirements during my inspection because under/behind equipment and hand contact surface throughout the premises required (deep) cleaning due to a heavy build-up of old foodstuffs and grease.”
Other concerns raised included holes and gaps in the ceiling spaces of the food storeroom which could be a potential entry point for pests and a vacuum packing machine which the inspectors said had not been cleaned and started to form mould on its surface.
Finally, the environmental health team reported that food safety management procedures were not being implemented correctly by the business meaning they could not demonstrate that food hygiene/safety was being managed effectively in the operation.
Responding to an earlier article about the inspection, Queens Bistro said: “We acknowledge that we received a visit by an Environmental Health Officer who scored us at a 0. The findings related to food storage – in this case, a freezer – which the Environmental Health Officer was not aware of when they visited previously. Our standards at Queens are incredibly high, and it was changes in staffing and a matter of oversight on our part that this appliance wasn’t disclosed.”
“We have also already begun working with a food compliance officer, Katy Elliott, to help us implement additional processes and training to achieve the higher rating that we feel reflects Queens Bistro. We want to reassure everyone that there is no risk to our guests in the restaurant. This matter is primarily administrative and does not pertain to cleanliness or food handling. We’re working hard to make sure we’re totally compliant in all areas.” Queens Bistro was approached for a further response.
