How Can You Tell the Restaurant You’re Eating in is Clean?
When you step into a restaurant the first thing you’ll be looking at is probably the décor. In fact, that’s probably a major part of the reason you picked a specific restaurant.
But, just because a restaurant looks good doesn’t mean that it is clean, you need to take a look at the premises to decide if you’re comfortable with the standard of cleanliness.
Don’t forget, if the restaurant isn’t clean it’s likely that your food will not be hygienically prepared. Do you really want to risk food poisoning? It’s estimated that 4.1 million Australians suffer from this each year.
Aside from finding the very best PPE and completing a complete inspection of the premises, you’ll be able to tell if the restaurant is clean enough to eat in or not by checking the following:
The Staff
Take a look around the premises, specifically at the edges where the floor and walls meet. You should also take a look at the staff and the clothing they are wearing.
Dirt in the edges or on the staff clothing is an indication that they don’t look after themselves or the restaurant.
If they don’t look after themselves you can’t expect them to look after your food properly.
Food Temperature
If you’re having hot food it should be served at a temperature of 60°FC or higher, in other words hot. Equally, cold food should be chilled, at 5°C or less. If your food is simply warm, somewhere in the middle of these two then you shouldn’t risk eating it.
There’s a much higher chance that it will carry infection and leave you feeling ill.
The Toilets
Once you’ve looked at the floor and the staff you may want to take a look at the toilets, these give a great indication of the attention to detail that a particular restaurant has.
At the very least the toilets should look and feel clean. Ideally, there should be a schedule visible that shows how often they are cleaned. You can take this into account when assessing the cleanliness of the room.
Kitchen Visibility
Not every kitchen is visible to the public but you should be able to see a little of what is going on. If you have any doubts regarding the standards in use you should walk away. This is one tie it is definitely better to be safe than sorry!
Don’t forget that you have the right to report a restaurant that you don’t feel meets the current health and safety standards. The restaurant will not get in trouble if they are clean enough and if they are not, you’ll potentially be preventing many cases of food poisoning.
Final Tip
If the restaurant choice is beyond your control then remember the following foods are a higher risk for food poisoning, avoid them if at all possible.
- Meat
- Dairy products
- Eggs
- Seafood
- Cooked rice & pasta
- Any ready to eat foods
With a little common sense, you can avoid becoming another food poisoning statistic.
