Almost 1000 eateries around Auckland currently have no food grade in what is being described by Auckland Council as an ‘unprecedented’ situation. Popular venues such as Longroom, Saan, Bedford Soda & Liquor and Revelry are currently operating under expired food grades – some of which expired as long ago as March.
Auckland Council has said that the Food Act 2-14 has created a verification backlog, and there is no health risk to consumers. Many of the venues with expired licences had been given an A at the last inspection.
Mervyn Chetty, environmental health manager at the Council, said that many of those operating under expired grades had been verified but the records had not been updated but could not give an exact figure.
"We would need to manually look at the record for each individual businesses,” he said. “Approximately 800 premises' grades will expire. However, we are unable to say how many have re-registered at this point."
"Most of our food operators understand the importance of producing safe and suitable food, and the majority of our businesses are A grades. We are facing an unprecedented and significant shift in the way food safety is managed in New Zealand and there have been some challenges along the way."
That ‘unprecedented shift’ comes in the form of the Food Act 2014. Under the law, food businesses which opened before March 2016 had three years to transition to a ‘risk-based’ verification system rather than the Council’s inspection system. Businesses completing the second phase of transition, which was due to be completed by July 1, were slow to adapt, leading to a backlog at the Council.
The delay in grading could have serious implications for the reputation of a business, according to Resturant Association CEO Marisa Bidois.
"That's the livelihood of a business,” she said. “You want the opportunity to be able to reassure your customers about the standard of the business. You're trying to build a reputation, you're trying to put your best foot forward… and it could potentially be affecting the business.”
