A NAME-AND-SHAME e-mail has been circulating in offices throughout Basingstoke detailing the shocking state of the kitchens at a popular town centre restaurant.

The Gazette and other places of work in the town have received e-mails about Ciao Baby Cucina in Festival Place.

The e-mails contain a food action plan drawn up by environmental health officers following an inspection at the premises last month. The document highlights concerns about hygiene in food preparation areas.

These include:

  • generally poor standard of cleanliness
  • mouldy food found in the fridge
  • raw egg found uncovered and contaminated with dead flies
  • dirty food equipment
  • large numbers of flies to the rear area of the ground-floor bar
  • floor of the first-floor kitchen was filthy and in poor condition
  • inadequate facilities for staff hand-washing and drying.
  • The information matches the report on Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council's new safe2eat website, which publishes inspection results for all eateries and rates them as excellent, satisfactory or unsatisfactory.

Ciao Baby received an unsatisfactory rating.

The inspection information has been made public this year, in line with the principles of the Freedom of Information Act.

However, the boss at Ciao Baby says everything raised by the health officers has now been put right and council chiefs agree there have been improvements.

In a statement, Rita Swart, manager at Ciao Baby Cucina, said: "Since the report was filed by Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council on September 11, 2007, procedures have been put in place to rectify all elements of the inspection report with immediate effect.

"As a result, guests can be reassured that Ciao Baby Cucina is a very safe place to eat.

"Guests should also be aware that in Ciao Baby Cucina's five-year history (serving 120,000 guests a year) we have never before had any issue or complaint of such a nature."

Karen Brimacombe, corporate director at the borough council, said: "Since the improvement notice was served on Ciao Baby Cucina on September 12, the notice has been complied with and environmental health officers have made further visits to the restaurant and it has vastly improved.

"These visits will continue to ensure that this remains the case and when officers are satisfied their rating will change."

But she warned: "If a business is rated unsatisfactory the premises will be the subject of formal enforcement action by the council to ensure these standards are raised and the business does not pose an unacceptable risk to the public."

Mrs Brimacombe confirmed that since the Basingstoke safe2eat website was launched, on August 31, the number of unsatisfactory premises has fallen from 60 to just 16 - which highlights the positive effect it is having on driving up standards in food premises across the borough.

The website can be found at www.safe2eat.com/basingstoke