Re the article ‘‘Food outlets hit with fines’’ (Leader, May 9).
I painted the inside of this shop when it was being built and the whole bottom level of the Westfield project for months.
I think the problem is there are exposed ceilings all over the place which we were told to paint black to hide wires etc to make it look “modern’’.
But what it does is opens the area to dirt, dust and vermin to travel along there easier.
These places are all charged way too much rent as well - it’s amazing they can stay in business at all.
James Cullagh
Every shop that has had these warnings should be made to display signage outside their store to that effect until inspectors are satisfied the remedial action has been taken.
How else is a consumer to know where it is safe or unsafe to get a meal at Westfield?
It’s pretty obvious though that vermin in one shop can easily spread to all the others.
Westfield should look at the root cause of the vermin getting into these places in the first place and fix it ASAP.
Mark Ryder
Lost count of how many times I see food handlers not removing their gloves when handling money and not putting new ones on to handle the food.
They seem to think the gloves are there to protect their hands from the money.
Rosie Ken
This is very disappointing. I have always enjoyed my food experience at Dainty Dumpling. Mind you, having spent many years in servicing the food industry in various ways, I'm not surprised. You only have to look at the "back of house" for most retail premises, and you would never do business there again.
John Gough
As someone who has worked in food production for a while now, maintaining food safety can be hard sometimes when you are rushing to fill the order - but it must ALWAYS be priority. Stuff like salmonella and cross contamination isn’t something to be taken lightly.
Elina Taranenko
There's really no excuse for poor hygiene. It's a combination of laziness and cost cutting. How can someone run a business if they have no passion for doing things right?
Henry Tang
Westfield Miranda have one of the biggest cockroach problems I have ever seen. When I worked at a retail store there we had issues I couldn't imagine the issues food places would get. The whole place needs to be sprayed or something.
Steph English
So are the courts going to just keep fining them like they have been continuously over these years? Or will they actually shut them down like they should have after the first three warnings which they have failed to comply with? Seriously, they should no longer be allowed to operate! The line needs to be drawn somewhere.
Lana Lana
Not surprised by this at all.
Why stop at Miranda?
Walk through Cronulla Street, and watch food outlet staff outside there shops smoking, walk back in the shop and continue with the food prep without washing their hands.
What happened to prep staff wearing hats to prevent hair falling in your food?
Female staff with studs and long ear rings?
I gave up dining in these outlets after working in a hospitality training centre, where what I witnessed from these unskilled, chefs/food handlers was a disgrace to the industry.
John Eastman, Cronulla
