City hotels named over food hygiene standards
TWO major Birmingham hotels have been singled out by a consumer watchdog over their food hygiene standards.
Birmingham’s four-star Copthorne Hotel, run by Millenium Hotels, was rated one out of five after inspectors found out-of-date seafood and raw meat stored next to sauces in a fridge.
The city’s four-star Novotel was given a hygiene rating of two for “high-risk food...out of temperature control”.
A total of 652 hotels, B&Bs and guesthouses had hygiene ratings indicating improvement was necessary, the investigation by Which? Travel found.
Each received a rating of two or below from its local authority, which use the Food Standards Agency’s (FSA) 0-5 scale.
Which? Travel researchers who checked eight venues with food hygiene ratings of between zero and two found none of them visibly displayed the rating at the time of the visit.
Travel editor Rory Boland said: “Around nine in ten of us eat at least one meal in our overnight accommodation so it’s vital that hotels, B&Bs and guesthouses have high standards of food hygiene.
“We know that displaying the rating outside the premises encourages higher standards, which is why we support the FSA case for a compulsory display scheme for the whole of the UK.”
A spokesman from the Novotel Birmingham Centre hotel told the Post: “We took immediate action to correct the issues raised from the inspection.
“We are currently in the process of applying for re-certification.”
Lesley Lansbury, director of safety, health and environment for Europe at Millenium Hotels, said the unannounced inspection at the Copthorne Hotel came during a “change in the kitchen team”.
He said: “The safety of our guests, which naturally includes food safety, is our primary concern. A ‘5’ food safety rating had been in place at Birmingham Copthorne for several years prior to a routine, unannounced environmental health inspection of the hotel’s kitchen on June 8 last year.
“The visit occurred at a time when standard processes had been disrupted temporarily by a change in the kitchen team.
“The general manager took immediate action to remedy the faults identified.”