CCTV footage of food safety inspector has restaurant worried

A restaurant owner in southeast Queensland is questioning the conduct of a food safety inspector claiming he was disturbed by what he saw on CCTV footage of her visit after the business was temporarily as a result of the inspection.

Noosaville restaurant Patrick Lloyd says he concerned about the practices of the Noosa Council Environmental Health Officer after reviewing CCTV footage of her annual inspection.

He has shared footage of the food inspector wiping her hands on her pants and touching the floor between handling food containers during an annual inspection.

The footage shows the officer using a phone before handling food containers and getting on the floor on her hands and knees before touching equipment without washing her hands.

But Noosa Council's Community Services have hit back, saying the five minutes of YouTube footage was carefully edited and did not accurately depict the 90-minute inspection.

"The officer washed her hands repeatedly during the inspection, but the hand wash basin is located in a rear room of the shop and not captured by the camera," Noosa Council's Community Services director Kerri Contini told the Courier Mail.

"There were no paper towels on hand for the officer to dry her hands at this premises. Council has since reviewed its procedures to ensure officers now carry hand wipes as well as sanitiser."

Contini also defended the food safety inspector's use of a temperature probe, saying she did not need to sanitise the probe between testing some raw food products.

The business has since addressed issues identified during the inspection and has reopened.

Sheridan Randall, 17^th October 2019