Taste of Grampian and Food Safety Week 2011

Competition Winners:

9:30 - 11:00 - Douglas Winton from Aberdeen
11:00 - 11:45 Mary Nicol from Peterhead
11:45 - 12:30 Anne Wood from Inverurie
12:30 - 1:30 Morven from Cruden Bay
1:30 - 2:30 S Chalmers from Keith
2:30 - 3:30 Wilma Pullen from Westhill
3.30 - 4:30 Mary from Kintore

If you are a lucky winner of an apron please call 01467 628452 and ask for Lorna

On Saturday June 4th, Aberdeenshire Council’s Environmental Health Service Food Safety Team once again exhibited at the annual Taste of Grampian food festival held in and around the Thainstone Agricultural Centre near Inverurie.

The team on duty at the stand used this fantastic opportunity to remind local consumers and visitors of the Food Hygiene Information Scheme which has now been launched throughout the majority of the Shire, as well as highlighting those businesses who have gone a stage further, and achieved the national Eat Safe award.

It was, therefore, an ideal day to present an additional four businesses with their Eat Safe certificates.  This award indicates that the food business has gone above and beyond food law requirements and achieved a level of hygiene excellence.

The four successful businesses were presented with their award certificates by David Cooper, Environmental Health Manager, Aberdeenshire Council and Professor Charles Milne, Director of the Food Standards Agency in Scotland.

The successful businesses were:

The Bay Fish & Chip Shop, Stonehave

Gadies Restaurant, Oyne

Glencairn Lodge Nursing Home, Fraserburgh

Bicocchi’s Ice Cream, Fraserburgh

The Pit Stop, near Oyne could not manage to attend the ceremony, however, David Cooper personally presented their award later in the week at the premises.

The Environmental Health Service were proud and delighted to present these awards, however, they are always looking for additional food businesses who wish to aim for this national accolade.

Nearly 200 people took part in the Food Safety Quiz during the event, which promoted the difference between ‘use by’ and ‘best before’ dates as well as key information on food safety.  Participants came from right on our doorstep in the Shire to visitors from as far afield as Dubai.  So please remember to check out with website to see if you are a winner!!

Never ones to shy away from the spotlight, the Food Safety Team also managed to net visits from both of the celebrity chefs attending Taste of Grampian and were delighted when both Simon Rimmer and Jean Christophe Novelli took part in the Quiz.  We won’t give away who came out on top, but let’s just say that home grown talent is much better!!!!

Following on from the dizzy heights of this event the team were then let loose around the Shire during the annual Food Safety Week continuing to promote the food safety message.  They were seen at Morrison’s in Inverurie & Peterhead, Asda in Huntly, and Tesco in Fraserburgh not to mention in the foyer at Gordon House.

 They had mixed responses from consumers, however, on the whole,  they were interested to learn about food safety and especially the money that could be saved by just paying more attention to the dates on food products. 

The overall feelings of all the participating officers was that it was 6 days well spent and roll on next year.