Businesses in the hospitality industry must take particular care at Christmas and other busy times of the year to protect customers from the risks of food poisoning: the chances of an outbreak increase in restaurants due to the higher customer volume, more complex holiday menus and rushed kitchen environments.
Turkey and food poisoning
The highest risks on the menu include turkeys that haven’t been cooked properly, oysters and lettuce. Around ten million turkeys will be eaten across the UK this Christmas, but when they’re not defrosted, cooked and stored properly, it could lead to an upset stomach and even fatalities in the most severe cases.
Turkeys can be infected with campylobacter, the UK’s biggest cause of food poisoning. Responsible for some 460,000 cases of stomach upsets, including gastroenteritis, it leads to 22,000 hospitalisations and 110 fatalities annually.
Doctors say poultry is the most significant source of campylobacter and costs Britain some £9 million annually in terms of NHS treatment, loss of earnings and reduced productivity in the workplace. It can cause diarrhoea, vomiting, severe abdominal pains and general discomfort, with a small number of cases proving fatal, particularly for elderly people, children and those with an immunodeficiency.
The innocuous lettuce accounts for around 30% of foodborne illnesses, although they are often not severe and people don’t always realise they’re infected. It can carry bacteria such as E coli, listeria and salmonella, caused by the soil, irrigation system, or during harvesting, processing and packing. That Boxing Day pub snack of a cold turkey sandwich with a little side salad could put you out of action for the rest of the festive period if the turkey hasn’t been stored properly and the lettuce is unwashed.
Scientists estimate a norovirus infection occurs once every 12,500 portions, with varying degrees of severity. It is hard to pinpoint the exact number of infections, as many people simply recuperate at home in less serious cases.
Complex Christmas menus
The general complexity of Christmas menus contributes to foodborne illnesses, as they include multiple raw ingredients such as poultry, seafood and dairy products, which are more susceptible to bacterial growth when mishandled.
Food poisoning can occur in restaurants due to cross-contamination; undercooking of meats, especially turkey; improper food storage, such as keeping raw and cooked meats close to each other; and reheating leftovers insufficiently. These are all common causes of food poisoning during the festive season.
Restaurants must maintain stringent food safety standards during high traffic times as part of their food poisoning prevention strategy. Food hygiene regulations ensure food safety by sticking to temperature control guidelines and using disposable gloves and proper sanitation techniques.
Kitchen food preparation and serving staff should wear food handling gloves to prevent the spread of harmful bacteria. The correct hygiene and food handling practices are crucial, maintaining a clean environment and equipment, to protect customer health and also the reputation of your business.
Food handlers should wash their hands thoroughly before and after touching different types of food; wear disposable vinyl gloves to prevent the spread of bacteria; and use clean aprons to prevent leaning on food preparation areas and leaving old food residue. Additionally, all surfaces and equipment must be sanitised regularly with high quality cleaning products to remove harmful bacteria.
Consequences of improper food handling
Handling food incorrectly can have a disastrous impact on any restaurant, not only on health and in legal terms, but also on your reputation. It can lead to food poisoning outbreaks, which could seriously damage your public image and result in legal action, fines or even closure of your premises.
Della Callagher, 46, died after eating a Christmas meal in December 2012 at the Railway Hotel in Hornchurch, east London. The pub’s chef Mehmet Kaya and manager Ann-Marie McSweeney were jailed in January 2015 after a court heard the woman had died from food poisoning. They had fabricated the pub’s food safety records in relation to how the turkey had been cooked, Snaresbrook Crown Court heard.
Kaya was jailed for 12 months and McSweeney for 18 months for perverting the course of justice. The chain that owned the pub, Mitchells and Butlers, was also fined £1.5 million for placing unsafe food on the market. The court was told that the pub served Christmas Day lunch to 128 people, 33 of whom fell victim to food poisoning.
The turkeys had been prepared the previous day, but were not cooled properly, nor reheated adequately, before being served, leading to the formation of clostridium perfringens bacterium. Food safety records had not been completed, so McSweeney devised a plan to fabricate them. She and Kaya completed ‘due diligence’ logs retrospectively, before the investigation was carried out by health inspectors.
A non-fatal outbreak of food poisoning occurred in 2018 in the West Midlands, when clostridium perfringens food poisoning was traced back to leeks in cheese sauce served in Christmas meals between 7th and 9th December.
Incidents such as this demonstrate how crucial it is for restaurants to handle food properly, especially at Christmas, when exceptionally busy. According to the Foodborne Disease Control department of the Food Standards Agency, kitchen staff should adhere to the “Four Cs” of food hygiene: cleaning, cooking, chilling and avoiding cross-contamination - practices that are important all year round.
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