Adelaide Intercontinental’s food safety problems
The Adelaide Intercontinental is in the news again over safety disasters that could end up in a class action.
In August, as many as 83 people were struck down with salmonella after eating a buffet breakfast at the hotel’s Riverside Restaurant. That included 12 hospitalisations.
Now the Adelaide Advertiser has obtained an Adelaide City Council report highlighting serious food safety issue at the Intercontinental.
According to the report, the affected individuals had all consumed scrambled eggs. A salmonella strain known as “salmonella typhimurium”, which is linked to the eggs was subsequently identified in test results.
The report found there had been several issues in the food preparation.
First, there was the question about a whisk used to prepare the scrambled eggs, taking it from raw eggs to a cooked mix.
The report also found that the scrambled eggs were continually topped up instead of being fully replaced between the hours of 6.30am and 9.15am.
There was also a risk of cross-contamination with serving spoons replaced only when deemed necessary. Also, a stick blender was not properly sanitised.
Another issue was the nightshift chef who prepared the raw-egg mix. According to the report, he did not have a good enough understanding of the correct cleaning and sanitising processes.
The report found that a plastic container storing the raw egg slurry had a damaged lid and rough internal surfaces. That made the container hard to sanitise.
In addition, temperatures were not recorded on a thermometer. There was a reason for that: it was “lost three months ago.”
The hotel has left itself open to damages claims.
Patrick Boylen, managing director of law firm Duncan Basheer Hannon, 70 of the 93 people affected had contacted his firm and 20 were seeking damages.
“I’ve certainly got the numbers for a class action (so) the next step for me is I will be pushing ahead with these claims,” Mr Boylen told the Adelaide Advertiser.
“The process will involve getting the information as to what the claims were, getting some medical information from doctors about any side effects and then preparing a claim for loss of wages, medical expenses and pain and suffering – it’s always difficult to put a number on that.”
by Leon Gettler, October 14th 2016
