Health and safety laws – a good thing or a pain in the a*se…?

The ‘elf & safety directives that continue to come out of Brussels might be intended to lift the game of the restaurant and accommodation industry in general but many claim they are actually pushing things too far in the other direction.

For instance one very popular Chinese restaurant in London is famous for it’s Peking Duck; the duck is hung to dry out and cooked in a certain type of oven according to traditions. ‘Elf & safety inspectors decided this was not the way things should be done and ordered the restaurant owners to get rid of the special ovens used and instead cook the ducks in accordance with EU directives. Of course the restaurant management went ballistic about this as their ovens were recently purchased for quite a sum of money and if the meat was not prepared and cooked in the usual way then the dish was simply not the dish.

The same thing has happened in Indian restaurants with regards to their clay ovens. Just what is this all supposed to achieve…?

‘Elf & safety should be concerned with simply that. Clean kitchens, clean dining areas, safe working environments – shining worktops, food handling and little things like clean cutlery and glassware. I once worked in a cafe where the pantry was in dire need of those little moth traps; everytime you opened the door out flew these little brown moths and this aspect alone should have been addressed. But ‘elf & safety were only interested in how far disabled folk had to travel to get to the toilets!

Get back to basics guys.

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