Slough Borough Council’s food safety team visited Chinese restaurants in Slough yesterday to check the special ovens used to cook crispy duck complied with EU regulations and found all was good.
None of the restaurants and take-always had any of the implicated ovens, which are made in China and imported to the UK, that have hit the headlines recently.
Those particular ovens do not have the Conformité Européenne (CE) mark which shows they adhere to EU rules and in some parts of the country, restaurants have had to close down the ovens completely.
The CE marking and/or essential safety features may not be present on some of the ovens inspected and therefore may need to be shut down.
These features include -
* Flame failure devices
* Pilot lights
* Safe methods of ignition
* Gas safety valves
In addition, if ventilation around the oven is inadequate, it could emit high levels of carbon monoxide which could prove fatal.
The Slough council officers inspected the ovens in all 24 Chinese restaurants and found that none posed a serious imminent risk.
All checks are under the Health and Safety at Work Act.
Ginny de Haan, food and safety manager for Slough Borough Council, said: “Whilst we needed to make sure the ovens were safe in the Chinese restaurants, our preferred approach was to work with the businesses to find a solution if the ovens need to be closed.
“We needed to keep an open mind about using our enforcement powers to prohibit and I’m pleased to say our findings were good.
“We were very pleased with the co-operation received during this work; many businesses were already aware of the problems associated with the ovens particularly in relation to restaurants in London.
“Had we encountered a dangerous oven, we would have closed it immediately. If the danger was not imminent, we would’ve served a notice requiring the owner to get it checked by a Corgi registered engineer, who will either issue a safety certificate, give recommendations to make it safer, or confirm that it’s unsafe and can’t be used.”
Commissioner for Slough community and leisure, Cllr Shafiq Chaudhry, added: “It’s very good news to hear that the special ovens used in our Chinese restaurants have passed and are EU regulated.
“The council has a duty to make sure that workers and the public are not at risk, but thankfully for us, duck is still on the menu.”
Slough Borough Council.
