The head chef of Urban Burger Bar in Altrincham has blasted the inspection process that saw his popular restaurant handed a shock zero hygiene rating – and assured customers that his food is high quality and safe.
Adam Wilde said he was “completely gobsmacked” to receive the rating – which signifies “urgent improvement necessary” – from the Food Standards Agency last November, just six weeks after the Greenwood Street restaurant had opened its doors.
Two environmental health officers from Trafford Council, which carries out inspections in the area on behalf of the agency, paid a surprise visit on November 26th and filed a report lodging a number of issues including the lack of a written food safety management system and the incorrect storage and handling of raw burgers.
But Wilde, a Michelin-trained chef with 30 years’ experience at the likes of The Connaught, Claridge’s and Le Gavroche in London, as well as Brasingamens in Alderley Edge, claimed the officers did not understand the type of high quality burgers used by the restaurant.
He said: “I don’t believe the environmental health officers’ zero star rating is correct at all. We were all dumbfounded. They thought that I was inept at my job. They thought that when they saw me put a burger on the griddle whilst using the paper it was to prevent cross-contamination. It wasn’t, it was to prevent the burger from breaking.
Below: Urban Burger Bar on Greenwood Street in Altrincham
“Our burgers conform to special European legislation that allows them to be classified as edible when raw. It’s like eating rare steak. They came and took samples of everything – all of which came back perfectly fine – but they didn’t understand the legislation. They said I didn’t wash my hands – I’m a Michelin-trained chef, I wash my hands all the time.”
The zero rating had remained just an unfortunate blip until the Manchester Evening News ran a story last week naming and shaming “Greater Manchester’s filthiest restaurants” – with the Urban Burger Bar included.
Since then, Wilde said, the restaurant has suffered cancellations and the 10-strong staff have had to field “a lot” of calls and emails from customers about the rating.
He added: “Hopefully we can carry on but all the staff are down, morale is low and they’re worried. Potentially it’s about their jobs.”
Wilde claimed the inspection had originally been triggered by a case of E. coli found in somebody who had eaten at the restaurant – as well as seven other places – in the 48 hours prior to their diagnosis.
“Someone was in hospital and they (the inspectors) wanted to point a finger and they thought it was us,” he said, “which is the obvious thought, as E Coli and burgers go hand in hand. So they came in all guns blazing, but it wasn’t the case.
Below: Second chef Diane Rae in the Urban Burger Bar kitchens. She has worked at the restaurant from the start and has been a chef for 40 years
“I don’t think that at any point or time our hygiene was anywhere near a three, let alone a zero. It was clean and the fridges were clean.
“They also said there were issues with flipping the burgers and cross-contamination – I don’t know any other establishment that needs to do that, from Macdonald’s to Nando’s. They don’t require two different spatulas to cook and serve a burger because as soon as it touches the griddle at 300 degrees, any contamination has gone.”
The report claimed Wilde did not wash his hands between handling cooked and raw burgers – but he insists he washed his hands at least three times during the inspection. “That’s completely inaccurate”, he says, “100% I did.”
He added that after the initial inspection, one of the officers returned two days later and then a further inspection was carried out on December 3rd when, the council confirms, the officers “did note some improvements”.
“They came back and said that we were a four, possibly a five star,” said Wilde, “but that they would have to grade us on the report they had done, which was a zero. But there was no reasoning behind it.”
Restaurants with a zero can request a reassessment only after a period of three months, during which time the rating stands. Wilde said he has been applying for a new inspection “since the end of January”, but as yet has had no response. The Council told us that “no rescore-revisit has yet been requested by the business“.
Wilde also said that the written food safety management system – known as a Hazard Analysis & Critical Control Points (HACCP) – that had been lacking at the inspection is now firmly in place.
Below: Adam Wilde with the restaurant’s HACCP file
“Believe me I am fully trained, and I understand protein temperatures,” he added.
“Although we didn’t have the paperwork, we were still using the techniques, just not writing it down and creating the HACCP. We had been busy and were trying to set up a business.
“When the inspectors visited I was literally writing the HACCP. People say it can be done or one or two hours – it can’t, it has to be done in situ. You have to realise your hazards and then produce your HACCP.”
Wilde said the restaurant was now planning to publish a video through its Facebook page showing how its burgers were stored, prepared and cooked. He said: “Our customers can be reassured that since opening we’ve never done anything to have bad hygiene.”
He added: “I’ve never had an issue like this before. I was completely gobsmacked but I thought it wouldn’t affect us much, we’d just rescore and get the accurate score put on as soon as possible. Until the Manchester Evening News article I thought nothing would come of it.
“But something like this will close a business down for no reason.”
