Gold Coast food safety breaches increase

Coming on the back of the news that in New South Wales there has been an increase in Salmonella food poisoning, the Gold Coast has had a significant increase in food safety breaches by food businesses.

In the 2014 / 15 financial year the number of food safety breaches across the Gold Coast city increased from 98 to 127.

From the 2013 / 14 financial year to the 2014/15 year there were also 350 less routine inspections.

The big increase was the number of infringement notices, from 717 to 1204.

So there has been an increase in notices and breaches but yet a decrease in actual inspections.

So what is going on?

It would seem that the inspections are becoming tougher and resulting in more breaches being identified. In an area that has such an important tourism industry, maintaining food safety is vital to keep the reputation of the Coast intact.

As soon as people hear the word “breach’, they usually immediately think the worst. According to Glen Day, the President of Restaurant Industry Support Gold Coast some of the food businesses had breaches for minor issues like chipped tiles and missing skirting boards. These sort of issues don’t get fines immediately, only if not addressed as required.