A popular Manchester food chain has come under fire after a visit from food safety chiefs to its Trafford Centre branch revealed terrible hygiene conditions.
Rice Flame Bar and Grill’s outlet in the centre’s Orient food court scored ZERO out of five in its most recent food hygiene report by Trafford Council, which labelled it requiring ‘urgent improvement’.
The report revealed dirty working conditions, lack of staff training, incorrect food temperature control, and even a lack of hot water onsite during the visit.
The initial inspection took place on December 3, and after the findings a revisit was requested on January 7.
During the first inspection the restaurant was found to have breached several legal requirements within the Food Hygiene Regulations.
The report told of how staff food handlers were not trained in basic food hygiene, items in the kitchen were left uncleaned and management was not audited.
Hot food such as chicken wings and dim sum were kept at incorrect temperatures of under 63 degrees celcius and chilled foods were left at temperatures above 8 degrees celcius.
Alarmingly, the report also mentioned the hot water supply had run out during the visit, and the kitchens dishwasher did not work.
The food chain, which claims on its website to create ‘a unique and healthy dining experience’ also has restaurants in Piccadilly Gardens, Deansgate and Oxford Road.
It claims to use open plan kitchens to ‘ensure the use of only the freshest and finest ingredients, creating a delightful experience for all the senses’.
An intu Trafford Centre spokesman said: “As a responsible landlord we are taking this issue very seriously indeed and are working with both Trafford Council and the outlet in question to ensure that urgent improvements are made by Rice Flame Bar and Grill.
“Although we are extremely disappointed that an outlet in our centre has scored so poorly, what this incident does show is that the Greater Manchester Scores on the Doors initiative, of which we have been a firm supporter since it was first launched here at intu Trafford Centre in 2011, is working as it should in the best interest of consumers.
“It’s also important to note that we have more than 50 restaurants in the centre and over 84% of these have been rated as Good or Excellent by Trafford Council.”
Louis Mcallister-Partridge, 28, from Eccles, visited the restaurant in January and said: “There was at least a 45 minute wait for the food which was surprising as there were lots of empty tables.
“The score is terrible, it’s shocking considering the value for money.”
Rice was unavailable for comment.
Picture courtesy of Buzzard525 via WikiCommons, with thanks.
