Dirty restaurants to be named on net

Grubby Rotorua food premises will soon be named and shamed on the local council's website.

The Rotorua District Council has decided to post all the food outlets closed by health inspectors on its site.

A "need for transparency" has prompted the council's decision to publicly list the businesses, according to the council's environmental services director, Nigel Wharton.

The decision comes after the temporary closure of more than two dozen of the city's restaurants on health grounds since November and a flood of letters to the editor have demanded to know which were the offending premises.

The list is expected to be online within the next month.

Mr Wharton said he thought the move would be seen as positive, given the need for the Rotorua public to know which restaurants met health standards.

He also expected a positive response from the restaurant industry as it would mean good restaurants would not be tarnished with the bad brush of a few.

The vast majority of the city's 560-plus registered food outlets were fully complying with the council's health requirements.

Rotorua councillors were shocked recently when shown photos of kitchens caked in grime, plagued by pests and with rubbish rotting outside.

Since November last year, 28 Rotorua food outlets have been forced to close temporarily.

Mr Wharton said most of the outlets closed were generally only shut for about 24 hours, to give the owners the "time and incentive" to get their premises up to the required standards to continue operating.

Restaurant Association of New Zealand chief executive Neville Waldren said the threat of restaurants being publicly named was a strong incentive to keep a "clean ship".

He had no sympathy with those who were named if it was because of poor hygiene.

- DAILY POST (ROTORUA)