Food poisoning cases soar at Birmingham restaurants
Aug 20 2010 by Emma McKinney
FOOD poisoning cases at Birmingham restaurants and takeaways have rocketed during the recession with cases of food fraud and cut backs in cleaning also increasing.
Environmental health officers at Birmingham City Council said the number of cases of suspected food poisoning had risen by more than 25 per cent in the last year and found businesses have been left so strapped for cash they have resorted to buying products such as meat and alcohol from illegal traders.
They said 1,610 cases of suspected food poisoning were reported to them by Birmingham doctors between April 2009 and April 2010 – the highest number of cases in six years.
There was a rise of 423 more cases than the team had to probe during the same period in 2008 and 2009, when 1,187 cases were investigated.
Nick Lowe, the council’s food safety team manager, blamed the economic downturn on the number of suspected food poisoning cases in Birmingham.
“There definitely seems to be a link between the recession and a deterioration in hygiene standards and an increase in suspected food poisoning cases in the last year,” he said.
He said the council has been so concerned about a rise in food fraud that it has sent a crack team of officers to restaurants and takeaways across the city to investigate the issue.
“We’ve made some grim findings,” he added.
“In one place we found boxes of chicken and when we asked the owner where they got it from they said they didn’t know.
“When we got to the bottom of it, we found they were being phoned by an illegal trader and paying cash for deliveries but they had no idea where the meat came from or if it met the necessary standards.”
The figures come as a Birmingham Mail investigation can also reveal the shocking levels of poor hygiene in the kitchens of some of the city’s top restaurants.
Inspection reports by environmental health officers were obtained following a Freedom of Information request.
They include an inspection report for Around the World in 80 Dishes in Brindleyplace, which was forced to clean up its act after inspectors discovered mouse droppings and dirty conditions, which were so poor it received the lowest rating in the council’s 0 – 5H rating system.
Environmental health officers said since the inspection they have revisited the restaurant four times and hygiene standards have vastly improved.
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