Harvester pub scores zero food hygiene rating for 'significant failings'
The Oyster Catcher pub at the Kingswood Retail Park in Hull was given the lowest rating following a visit from the council’s environmental health inspectors in June.
Since the rating, Harvester has been working with the council to address the issues at the East Yorkshire pub.
A council spokesperson said: “Since the inspection, the business owners have worked very closely with us to improve all practices and are addressing all the issues identified.
“Food hygiene inspections assess three areas of food safety. These are the structure, the practices in place and confidence in management (training, track record, willingness to comply and documented systems)."
Indicative of significant failings
They added: “When a business receives a rating of zero, it is indicative of significant failings across all these areas.”
The spokesperson also advised operators to contact the council for assistance if they do receive a poor food hygiene rating.
They added: “We would urge any business owner whose premises receives a poor rating to contact the environmental health team, as working with us can have a significant impact on improving a food hygiene rating.
“Our primary role is to advise and educate in order to prevent food poisoning to people who live in and visit Hull.
“The council will always look to support businesses to improve food safety standards, ideally from the planning stage.”
A Harvester spokeswoman stressed the company was taking the incident extremely seriously and reassured customers that hygiene standards are of “primary importance” to the business.
Disappointed by the reduction
She said: “We’re extremely disappointed by the reduction in our food hygiene rating.
“We voluntarily closed the business following an environmental health visit several weeks ago.
“We have been working closely with Hull City Council to ensure all the issues raised are fixed, which included an immediate clean of the kitchen and team retraining.
“We were able to open the business the following day after the visit due to our quick response.”
The spokeswoman also said Harvester would continue to remain in close contact with Hull City Council and would look to request a revisit to review the rating as soon as possible.
