Otium receives zero food hygiene rating

A POPULAR restaurant and cocktail bar has been told to make “major improvements” to ensure the food it serves is safe to eat.

Otium restaurant in Westonsuper-Mare has been issued with a zero food hygiene rating following an inspection by North Somerset Council environmental health teams in March.

Council food safety officers carried out the inspection after the authority received a complaint about the premises. Inspectors said major improvement was needed to the restaurant’s food safety processes to ensure food sold at the Carlton Street venue was safe to eat.

Inspectors said that system and checks needed to be put in place to evidence that staff know about food safety and that standards would be maintained in the future. Restaurant bosses were also told that major improvements were also needed to the hygienic handling of food preparation, its cooking, re-heating, cooling and storage.

The inspection also revealed that improvements were needed to the cleanliness and condition of the building – including ventilation, hand washing facilities and pest control – to enable good food hygiene.

A North Somerset Council spokesman said: “Our food safety officers visited and inspected Otium in Weston-super-Mare on March 1, following a complaint they had received. The premises achieved a food hygiene rating of zero which means ‘urgent improvement necessary.’ They will now work with our food safety team to improve food hygiene standards.”

The restaurant has yet to be re-inspected.

Otium was approached for comment.