download Hospitality August 2010 - Foodservice Gateway

Food safety
Don’t cook if crook
WITH the chills of winter still
upon us the NSW Government
has warned of the risk of viral
gastro contamination and urged
chefs and cooks to refrain from
working when ill.
Primary Industries Minister
Steve Whan said the warning applies
particularly to food industry
professionals who come into
contact with the preparation and
service of food for large numbers
of people. “If you’re crook don’t
cook is a good basic rule to apply
in the workplace,” he said.
“Under the Food Standards
Code it is illegal for food handlers
to handle food when they
have gastric illness. It is also illegal
for food businesses to knowingly
have staff working if they
have gastric illness.”
A NSW Food Authority
spokesman confirmed it was investigating
incidences where
foodservice staff were asked to
work when they were sick, putting
many people at risk, and
Superstar chefs unite in Sydney food fest
THE BRIGADE of internationally-acclaimed chefs
heading to Australia for the Sydney International
Food Festival in October has been confirmed with
headliners including such culinary rockstars as
Wiley Dufresne from wd-50, and Marcus Wareing of
The Berkeley.
As well as presenting at the World Chef
Showcase series of seminars, some of the chefs will
be joining local chefs in a series of hot ticket
dinners. One of the hottest is sure to be the teaming
of Dufresne and acclaimed Sydney chefs Brent
Savage to present a series of eight course dinners
at Savage’s Bentley Restaurant and Bar. At a cost of
$350 a head, the dinners will also include desserts
from Dufresne’s pastry chef Alex Stupak, the former
Alinea pastry chef and Iron Chef America. Wareing
too will be joining forces with a talented local, Peter
Doyle of three hatter Est. They’ll be cooking together
to present two dinners.
Other international chefs taking part include
Istanbul’s Musa Dagdeverin (see our Q&A on p12)
and Mehmet Gurs, London’s Yotam Ottolenghi,Hong
Kong’s Margaret Xu Yuan, and France’s Alexandre
Gauthier. They’ll be joined by local stars including
Tetsuya Wakuda, Sean Connolly, Brent Savage, Ben
Shewry, Peter Doyle, Peter Gilmore and Greg
Malouf. See more at siff.com.au
urged staff or the public to report
such incidences.
Mr Whan said outbreaks of viral
gastroenteritis generally increase
in winter. “Viral illnesses
are a common cause of gastrointestinal
illness and can often be
confused with food poisoning,”
Mr Whan said. “Viral gastroenteritis
is highly infectious.”
Symptoms of viral gastroenteritis
can include vomiting and
diarrhoea as well as headache
and muscle aches. Symptoms
may take one to three days to develop
and can last for one to two
days or longer.
As a precaution it is recommended
that people who have
gastro do not prepare food for
48 hours after their symptoms
finish. “It is important for
people in the food preparation
and food service industry to
understand and observe that
precaution,” he said. More information
is available at
foodauthority.nsw.gov.au
Culinary tech head chef Wylie Dufresne.
Horse meat
on menu
THE MOVE by a Melbourne chef
to put horse meat on his menu has
received a mix reception from diners
and the public. However, so extreme
have been some of the negative
reactions from some sectors
that award-winning chef Nicholas
Poelaert, the owner of the one hat
restaurant Embrasse, declined to
comment publicly after he held a
special dinner offering diners the
chance to taste horse meat.
Perth butcher Vince Garreffa
was last month granted permission
by the West Australian Government
to become the first butcher in
Australia to be allowed to sell
horse meat over the counter. Garreffa
later reportedly received
death threats over the move.
Poelaert was quick to order
some of the meat and offered a special
three course tasting menu for
one night at Embrasse. However,
when Hospitality contacted him after
the dinner he declined to comment.
“There are a lot of unhappy
people out there,” he said “No
comment.”
in brief
Winner of $4,600 cooking
equipment announced
A range of Emme Italian cooking
equipment is heading to the Grand
Golf Club in Southport courtesy of
Scots Ice and Hospitality magazine.
The club’s demi chef Catherine
Walters won our competition to win
the equipment worth $4,600 by
correctly naming the range of brands
distributed by Scots Ice in Australia
and telling us why she wanted to win.
“All of our current appliances are from
the stone age, we would love to move
into the 21st century with Scots Ice.
My head chef is sick of chasing woolie
mammoths with a club out the back
just to serve up dinner for the night,”
she wrote in her winning entry. Don’t
forget to get your entries in for the
next installment in the competition.
See the ad on page 22 for details.
And there’s more…
Nadine Cove is the winner of the
competition we ran in conjunction
with hospitality supplier Crown
Commercial. Cove, from River Deli
Cafe in Nowra, NSW, has won $500
worth of beautiful stylish new cutlery
from the Stanley Rogers range.
Healthy times ahead
The Australian restaurant industry will
grow by 3.8 per cent in 2010-2011 and
22 per cent over the next five years,
according to predictions from
IBISWorld. That compares to 1.7 per
cent growth in 2009-2010 and
14.5 per cent over the past five years.
The company forecast Australians will
spend $10.2bn eating out in eateries
over the next 12 months.
Steroids and hormones in
chickens a myth
More than three quarters of
Australians mistakenly believe chicken
produced locally in Australia contains
added hormones and steroids,
according to new research from
poultry producer Steggles. This is
despite the fact that the Australian
poultry industry ceased these
practices nearly half a century ago.
The study showed 76 per cent of
people believed that hormones and/or
steroids were used in chicken
production here.
hospitalitymagazine.com.au hospitality | august 2010
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