Out-of-date ham and warm chicken tikka found at one-star seaside café

The “devastated” owner of a popular seafront café that slapped with a 1* food rating has vowed to win back their top billing.

The Stray Café, in Redcar, was given the poor rating last month by the local council following an inspection, and the full report has now been published.

The condition of the facilities and building were rated as good during the inspection, but concerns were raised over some high-risk food being stored at high temperatures, reports Teesside Live.

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These included corned beef pie, quiche, ham, chicken, corned beef, tuna mayo and chicken tikka sandwich filling.

Meanwhile, some honey roast ham with a use-by date of the day before the inspection was found at the café, and the council said that “major improvement” was necessary.

Owner Samantha McNeil said all the temperature issues were sorted out by the following day. She added that the ham was unopened.

But the inspector also found that red and green chopping boards were touching each another, meaning that "high-risk surfaces were in direct contact with low-risk surfaces without any guarantee that all surfaces had been effectively disinfected, presenting a risk of contamination”.

And there was also poor record-keeping. Staff were initially unable to find the Safer Food Better Business pack, and the inspection report said: “The diary was not up to date and opening and closing checks were not carried out."

Samantha said that she had the documentation written down in diaries but not in the SFBB pack, adding that it is how they had always worked.

“All of us as a team are devastated,” she said.

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“I've owned this for 32 years and we've always had a 5* rating. It was a mistake on our behalf regarding the Safer Food Better Business book.

"I got a letter and when the inspector came in everything was sorted.

“I said, ‘Why did we only get one star?’ But you get an instant one-star when you don't fill the book in.

“We always had our own diaries filled in, it's what we've always used.

“We are appealing and hopefully will get all our stars back. I hope everyone has got faith in us."

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