Restaurant owner turns table on food safety inspector

WATCH: A southeast Queensland restaurant owner has turned the tables on a food safety inspector by sharing footage of her conduct during an annual inspection.

A RESTAURANT owner has turned the tables on a food safety inspector by sharing footage of her wiping her hands on her pants and touching the floor between handling food containers during an annual inspection.

Patrick Lloyd was reviewing CCTV footage from his Noosaville restaurant when he grew concerned about the practices of the Noosa Council Environmental Health Officer.

Mr Lloyd shared part of the footage online showing the officer using a phone before handling food containers and getting on the floor on her hands and knees before touching equipment without washing her hands.

Mr Lloyd said he was worried by what he viewed.

"She even wipes her hand on her (pants) twice," he said.

"She has the right to walk into any restaurant in Noosa and you can't tell her to leave."

NOT HAPPY: Noosaville restaurant owner Patrick Lloyd is not happy with the behaviour of a food safety inspector. Photo: Warren Lynam

Noosa Council's Community Services Director Kerri Contini said the five minutes of edited footage did not accurately depict the 90-minute inspection.

"The officer washed her hands repeatedly during the inspection, but the hand wash basin is located in a rear room of the shop and not captured by the camera," she said.

"There were no paper towels on hand for the officer to dry her hands at this premises. "Council has since reviewed its procedures to ensure officers now carry hand wipes as well as sanitiser."

The edited footage posted to Youtube highlighted the food safety inspector's use of a temperature probe.

Ms Contini said the probe was not sanitised between testing some raw food products.

"The officer who carried out the inspection disinfected her temperature probe with a swab between testing food items, but not between testing some raw food products," she said.

Ms Contini said Safe Food Australia standards recognise that cooking destroys pathogens present in raw food.

The business closed temporarily as a result of the inspection.

"Council inspects food premises annually to ensure compliance with health and hygiene requirements," Ms Contini said.

"Non-conformity can result in notices to correct minor issues, through to more serious action such as temporary or permanent closure, fines or prosecution.

"Licences can be cancelled or suspended for failure to meet the required standards to protect the public."

The business has since addressed issues identified during the inspection and has reopened.

Originally published as Restaurant owner turns table on food safety inspector