Copa's doors are open again

EvanJames said :

Are we going the same way? I make mayonnaise and hollandaise with raw egg yolks, is this becoming dangerous? How else do you make these things? I don’t want to buy shop mayonnaise, it’s horrible.

It’s not ‘becoming’ dangerous, it always has been. ACT Health did some tests once that found salmonella levels were higher in thigh cuts of chicken compared to breast meat, so it makes sense eggs are going to be an issue for contamination. Some say it’s getting safer because of better supply chains. There’s many points of failure along the way. How well have the eggs been cleaned and packaged, how quickly are they brought to stores and are they kept cool the whole way? All of this reduces the risk if done properly, it keeps the bacterial levels below the dangerous threshold.

The only way to totally remove the danger is to use pasteurised eggs. Some say they don’t taste as good, and typically, they’re sold in food service size quantities (which are ideal for COPA’s use in potato salad), but not suitable for consumers or smaller serves.

Yes, the Copa and Zeferreli are the same owner. See recent Canberra Times article: http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/an-old-favourite-moves-on-now-lets-go-to-rio-20130419-2i63t.html

The latest news reported by the Canberra Times is the investigations are continuing, however the restaurants had several “issues” that needed addressing:
http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/salmonella-victims-all-home-from-hospital-20130520-2jx8t.html

I’m quite suprised they’ve been allowed to re-open so soon if there “issues” the restaurant needed to address. What exactly were these issues? Poor food preparation or perhaps incorrect storing the eggs? I for one will be staying away, at least until the investigations are made public. Anything like home made mayonaise or hollandaise sauce made with raw eggs SHOULD use pasteurised eggs. Eggs can be pasteurised at home in five minutes using a technique such as: http://culinaryarts.about.com/od/eggsdairy/ht/pasteurize_eggs.htm

Commercially produced mayonaise typically uses pasteurised eggs and preservatives to prevent salmonella. I’m not sure if it’s regulated that ACT restaurants using raw eggs must use pasteurised eggs. If not, this needs to be addressed urgently. The danger of salmonella should never be underestimated. In severe cases it can kill and a small percentage of people can suffer permanent health issues. If you read the stories of victims many suffered terribly in pain for several days.

Same owner.

I’m not sure why they bothered with all this change – Zeffirelli’s seemed to be doing fine.

I’m surprised they’ve reopened under the same name with the same logo. I would have thought the first thing they’d do is change the name to give the impression of a fresh start and a new business.

I dont know if it’s the same owner as the establishment it replaced, but I do recall that former business had it’s knuckles rapped more than once for a fairly wide range of naughtiness.

We should be told a) is it the same owner, and b) is anything likely to happen as a result. I heard the talking head on 666 ABC all last week going on about “working with the business”, “full co-operation” and “we want them to reopen as soon as possible”.

Should we maybe also have been hearing “we’re pretty sick of this mob and are going to drop a bomb on them”.

So… is it the same owner?

Any publicity is good publicity?

magiccar9 said :

I believe if you give Canberra it’s largest outbreak of salmonella in history, then you should have to jump through a few more hoops and work with the related authorities to make sure it never happens again. This re-opening is a little too soon for me to think they have learnt their lesson.

Cool, someone in the know. What related authorities aside from ACT Health do you require them to work with, and what are the additional hoops? What are the hoops they’ve already jumped through that you remain clearly unsatisfied with, and how long must this process continue before an establishment has learnt its lesson?

I believe if you give Canberra it’s largest outbreak of salmonella in history, then you should have to jump through a few more hoops and work with the related authorities to make sure it never happens again. This re-opening is a little too soon for me to think they have learnt their lesson.

Question though, this is the second, third instance of salmonella from mayonnaise?

This is a big problem in the US, eggs are scary things that are assumed to be infected and so must always be cooked. I don’t think you’d see Rocky putting raw eggs into his breakfast milk drink these days. The Americans say their national hen-herd is all infected with salmonella.

Are we going the same way? I make mayonnaise and hollandaise with raw egg yolks, is this becoming dangerous? How else do you make these things? I don’t want to buy shop mayonnaise, it’s horrible.