First of all, my apologies for the lack of updates recently, been crazy busy!
I hinted in one of my posts that I would talk a little about health and safety at some point in the future. The future has come, for I now intend to write about this subject. For those of you of the squeamish nature, STOP READING NOW!
Hygiene awareness is a big deal in the kitchen, as you would expect, and the larger companies tend to over-react and quite frankly get a bit silly over the whole thing. As with everything though, there are two ends of the spectrum, the lower end in this case being held by the small companies that slip through the bureaucracy.
In the UK, we are quite heavily regulated and very self conscious of hygiene standards in the kitchen. This doesn't mean we are perfect, far from it. I was once made to cook a curry with beef that was way to far out of date and stank to high heaven, the head chef seemed to think this was fine, the rest of us were disgusted though. I have to point out, this was the only time I have come across something like this within the UK.
Unfortunately, now comes the Yank Bashing. I have worked in several establishments within the US over the years, and I have to say, I'm pretty disgusted! Has no-one ever heard of cleaning? How the hell do these places get away with the build up of grime as they have? This stuff is thick! And as for the treatment of the food! There is no labeling, of ANY description. You have no idea what is what (unless you yourself made it) or when it was made. There is a lackadaisical attitude towards Health and Hygiene, what is worse, the health department let them get away with it!
Since I started at my job, I have been trying to implement changes to the cleanliness of the kitchen as a whole. It has been a slow process, and the kitchen needed a lot of work, but at this stage I can say I am a lot happier with the standards now than when I got there. About a week after I started though, we had a health inspection, no warning, just came in and checked us out. Do you know how much this inspector actually dragged us up on? One thing, just ONE THING! OMG! His request was that we clean the extraction fan, just that? Really? I tell you now, if that had been an inspection in England, we would have been shut down on the spot. Seriously, there are (or were) way too many things wrong with that place. We had rotten food under the tables, we had mice, we had broken and missing tiles on the floor and walls (this encourages dirt build up and is harder to clean) we had way too many problems. Nothing was clean, the shelves were all over the place with food, there was no stock control. I really can't list all of the problems with this place.
Rest assured, the situation is no longer such. All of these problems have been eliminated, and the kitchen is sooo much better. How the hell could the inspector overlook all of these issues though? I would have been dragged across hot coals in England! To allow the kitchen to get into such a state is a crime, and quite frankly dangerous. The previous chef is responsible, it's true, BUT SO IS EVERYONE ELSE WHO WORKS WITHIN THAT RESTAURANT! You can't argue, "well no-one else does anything about it" because that just does not wash. Health and Hygiene is the responsibility of each and everyone of the staff, no excuses. The only excuse that is valid, is such, "I tried to do the right thing but I was stopped from doing it" that covers your arse.
I would love to say that this place is an exception, but everywhere else I have worked in the US (and Israel) has been just as bad. I have heard that they are better in Manhattan, I can only say, they can't be much worse!
Have a good weekend all.