'Best takeaway in York' scores one star for food hygiene
City of York Council hygiene inspectors say staff at Cecil's Pizza and Grill on the edge of the city, close to University of York Campus East, have 'inadequate' knowledge of food hygiene awareness.
The inspectors continued: 'For example no awareness of the risk of handling raw meat, no awareness of allergen control.'
From customer reviews, the venue receives 4.4 stars out of five based on 210 reviews, but on Tripadvisor, has 3.3 stars out of five, based on 18 reviews, ranking it 590th out of 741 restaurants in York.
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City of York Council inspectors called on Cecil's Pizza and Grill at Unit 7 at Kimberlow Hill Rise Retail Park on June 20.
The Food Standards Agency website said that for hygienic food handling, it was a matter of 'improvement necessary'.
The cleanliness and condition of the facilities and the building were 'generally satisfactory'.
However, for management of food safety, they judged 'major improvement necessary'.
The Press obtained a copy of the hygiene inspectors' report from City of York Council under the Freedom of Information Act.
It reported: 'Raw chicken was found in the walk in freezer next to ice cream.
'This poses a risk of cross contamination.'
Furthermore: 'You did not have an adequate system to show where the foods you use came from. Dried goods had been decanted from their original packaging and this had been discarded.'
The report explained: 'You must be able to show where the foods you use have come from. This includes finished products and ingredients.
'If you supply food to another food business you must also keep details of this.
'Being able to trace where food has come from and where it is passed to, allows us to find and remove food, which may be unsafe to eat, and this protects consumer safety.'
The report also said the kitchen ceiling needed cleaning and gaps closing at an outside store to prevent access to pests.
However, the most criticism was reserved for confidence in management control systems.
The report said: 'I am very concerned that the practices seen during my inspection, together with the lack of staff awareness of food safety systems, indicate a lack of management controls over food operations in your business.'
The report noted tubs of meat stored in Greek Yoghurt containers were not labelled.
There were also no designated containers for raw meat.
And since the take-away lacks a dishwasher, designated equipment must be used for raw meat products to minimise the risk of cross-contamination.
The report continued: 'There was nothing labelled in the fridges so there was no system of date rotation and it was difficult to assess what foods were.'
The take-away was then urged to follow the Food Standards Agency guide Safer Food, Better Business, for advice on how to comply and provide the necessary documentation.
And after branding staff awareness of food hygiene as 'inadequate', as outlined earlier, the report added all food handlers must be 'supervised, instructed and/or trained in food hygiene matters to a level appropriate to their work activity".
Cecil's Pizza and Grill did not respond to our requests for comment. The Press will report on any response and on any re-inspection.
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