Hygiene worries for eateries

McDonald's at Westgate, above, has a D rating. Photo / Doug Sherring

A McDonald's restaurant is among a string of businesses given D-hygiene ratings from environmental health inspectors.

The fast food giant's outlet at the Westgate shopping centre in West Auckland lost its A-rating after Waitakere City Council officers visited the store on September 17.

The restaurant manager, who did not want to be named, said the grade was because of complications from a $1 million upgrade, due to be completed next month.

But Waitakere environmental compliance team manager Alan Ahmu said staff were not following hygiene procedures.

"It is out of the norm for a fast food chain to receive a low grade as they normally have a good system in place, but this time they have been caught out," he said. "Usually with a D grade it is linked to staff not following procedures for cleaning and in this case there were also some minor repairs that needed fixing, such as improper lighting in the store room."

A McDonald's spokeswoman said they expected the A grade to be restored.

"Regrading will take place once the obligatory two-month stand-down has passed ... we would expect Westgate's previous A grading to be restored and we can assure our customers that the restaurant is clean and completely safe to eat in."

Other popular Auckland eateries caught out included city centre Irish pub The Muddy Farmer in the four-star Heritage Hotel, Gloria Jean's cafe in the Borders bookstore on Queen St and Mecca Cafe in Newmarket.

Auckland City Council environmental health team leader Carole Simpson said The Muddy Farmer got a D because managers were unable to confirm the number of staff trained in basic food hygiene.

Simpson said the Mecca Cafe and Gloria Jean's received D grades due to cleanliness and food storage issues, insufficient staff hygiene training and dead cockroaches on the premises.

"It's usually a combination of things that makes them get a D grade, but if they can up their game and sustain it they will likely get their A grades back.

"If there are cockroaches but they are actively getting professional help for it, we acknowledge that. If there is a really critical pest infestation it's an automatic E and we will force closure until they fumigate and rectify the problem."

Almost all food outlets are subject to grading and must display their certificate where customers can see it.

Each council uses slightly different wording to accompany their grades, but A means a high level of compliance with health regulations, B a moderate level of compliance and D unsatisfactory compliance.

An outlet with an E grade can be prosecuted and may not be allowed to reopen for at least two months.

Auckland, Manukau and Waitakere city councils don't give C grades to avoid them being mistaken for a "pass".

Manukau environmental health manager Ian Milnes said a D grade was often given for repeated poor hygiene practices, and an E grade for the more "gross" things.

But he said inspectors were finding fewer D and E grades every year.

"We're down to about 1.6 per cent out of around 1350 premises getting the low grades," he said. "It's always a constant battle because there's a small percentage who just don't get food hygiene. We close E grade premises immediately and will sometimes prosecute them for things like finding cockroaches through to just gross filth."

North Shore City Council environmental health team leader Duffy Visser said strict standards had helped eliminate almost all the D and E grades.

The Beach Road Takeaway in Browns Bay was the only outlet with a D grade.

Waitakere has seven outlets with D ratings, and none with Es, and Auckland City Council has 66 premises with D grades and 37 with Es. Manukau has 14 E-graded premises and 27 with D grades.