11 November 2010

Protein Salad in Dickson (what to do with a problem meal)

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Yesterday my wife, a friend and myself decided to have lunch together, so we headed off to [a cafe] in Dickson. All 3 of us decided on the chicken caesar. We have had this many times before at [the cafe] with no issues, however this time my wife who just consumed the majority of her salad notice that she had some extras.

Two nice juicy plump maggots were glaring up her from the salad. They seemed most upset at being disturbed.

We were all quite shocked and my wife quickly took her dish back to the counter while our friend and I examined our salads for unwanted critters. The staff were very apathetic and only offered her another meal, umm no thanks. They certainly didn’t seemed very shocked. They then offered a rather poor casual apology and reluctantly gave my wife a refund.

Nothing for the other two of us that had the same dish. We all left rather shocked and fortunately none of us got sick. Today I decided to phone Health Protection Services to report the incident and I got a few handy tips if happens to you.

1. Get a photo of the object in the dish. I didn’t think of this until after my wife had already returned it.

2. Alert the staff but do not hand over the evidence. The person from ACT Health said, next time keep the maggots as they will seize them and determine exactly what they are.

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thank for that tip mate.
pretty handy one

I too used to have to go into a lot of comercial kitchens and agree with trickyxr, I remember one chinese joint in Civic, I had to open a panel over a oepn in chilled garbage bin full of chicken, I warned the staff a whole heap of dirt and dust would fall out, they didn’t care. So I opened it dirt fell onto the chicken, when I had finished and was packing up I saw the cook getting a portion out and start chop it up.

They had extended the kitchen into the stairwell/staff toilet area,there were the bins of food stored in the doorway of the toilet (lids up) and up the stairs.

Peewee Slasher4:24 pm 11 Nov 10

I’m with trickyxr. My work has taken me into many restaurants over the years and the following statement is the truth, for me.

I do not eat Chinese food. There’s no chance of me eating chicken from any takeaway or restaurant. Forget pork.

On the bright side, I don’t spend much.

Clown Killer said :

To be fair maggots aren’t going to make you sick. Not a good look though.

The point is where did the maggot come from? was there a dead animal in the building or rotten meat etc.Was it even a fly larvae or was it a moth larvae? without having the maggot identified by a profesinal we will never know.

I do pest control and have treated many resturants for cockroachs and mice, some so called classy ones included. Most have cockroachs running all over the place when the lights go out including over serving plates, knifes and forks pots and pans food preperation ares.If most people have seen what i have seen in the kitchens no one would attend them anymore. To be honest club kitchens are generaly cleaner then most resturants.The biggest problem is they only call the pestie in when the problem is getting big rather than to stop it all together by haveing 4 to 6 week treatments.
And the way most Kitchens handle food would turn you off you tucker meat left out in the open to defrost food stored in tubs that resemble Garbage bins. grose

Peewee Slasher2:51 pm 11 Nov 10

“Waiter, what’s this fly doing in my soup”

“The backstroke,,,sir”

JessicaNumber said :

Obviously wasn’t Rainbow Dreams. 😛

Great curries, cheapish and definitely no maggots!

Peewee Slasher said :

To paraphrase: “Waiter, there’s a fly in my soup”

Waiter: “Well, be quiet or everyone else will want one”.

Waiter: “Well I’ll be damned… bloody dodgy stitching on my pants…
you should have seen what else i had in your soup “

eyeLikeCarrots1:27 pm 11 Nov 10

Peewee Slasher said :

To paraphrase: “Waiter, there’s a fly in my soup”

Waiter: “Well, be quiet or everyone else will want one”.

“Waiter, there’s a fly in my soup.”

“Ah such a shame you didn’t come yesterday, they’re cute when they are little (and yummy too).”

OP – message received, avoid ALL cafe’s in Dickson.

Peewee Slasher12:49 pm 11 Nov 10

To paraphrase: “Waiter, there’s a fly in my soup”

Waiter: “Well, be quiet or everyone else will want one”.

Waiting For Godot said :

I remember a TV show called Fear Factor where one of the segments involved participants eating maggots. Harden the f*** up!

Fear Factor, Survivor even Who Dares Wins all had a cash incentive for eating gross things, which will greatly change people%u2019s attitudes. Maybe that%u2019s how the establishments should handle it, “oh that%u2019s a cash prize meal %u2013 eat the grub and you%u2019ll win $50”

Waiting For Godot said :

I remember a TV show called Fear Factor where one of the segments involved participants eating maggots. Harden the f*** up!

I wanted to go the Fear Factor, but was too afraid. To be fair, those people (on the show) were mentally prepared to eat maggots. It’s probably not an possibility that occurs to you as you tuck into your chicken caesar salad.

I’ve bitten into fruit and bitten into a worm – big deal, you’re sort of prepared to accept the risk of that. When it comes to food prepared for you by humans, that expectation is much lower (though maybe it shouldn’t be).

Waiting For Godot said :

I remember a TV show called Fear Factor where one of the segments involved participants eating maggots. Harden the f*** up!

I’ve seen them eating a horse uterus on that show. Not that you’d find a horse uterus in your salad – I hope.

Waiting For Godot11:32 am 11 Nov 10

I remember a TV show called Fear Factor where one of the segments involved participants eating maggots. Harden the f*** up!

I had a similar experience at a well known establishment in Queanbeyan during a work party. I ordered a cheesecake for desert, and upon receiving the cake, I found mold growing on it. I advised a staff member, who barely apologised before offering a replacement. I didnt accept the replacement, and went without desert.

I found out the following day, that the desert had been charged to the bill, which the boss paid without checking. Sadly, this was a venue that I visited probably once a month before this incident, but have not returned since.

at least your salad was fresh

Flys frolicking on the food during storage or preparation seems to be the real problem. Maggots emerge from their eggs within eight to 20 hours of being laid.

Mr Waffle said :

That’s what you get for ordering the “Bear Grylls Special”… just be glad you didn’t have to bite the head off a lizard!

Goddamn, beat me to it. Watching Bear Grylls plucking maggots out of the eye sockets of a dead, decomposing seal nearly made me barf.

I think the problem lies not so much with the maggots themselves, as where they came from; that is, what else was in the meal that was bad enough for maggots to be eating?

Clown Killer9:56 am 11 Nov 10

To be fair maggots aren’t going to make you sick. Not a good look though.

troll-sniffer9:47 am 11 Nov 10

I find nothing unusual in slip-ups in food preparation occasionally, it’s a fact of life that critters will find ways to defeat even the most stringent countermeasures, what I do find extraordinary is the reported attitude of the establishments who have been notified of a problem.

Get with it cafe owners! If a customer reports a foreign object found in a meal, take the initiative and take steps to assure the customer that all necessary steps will be taken to find out what went wrong, get customer’s details, wrap the offending meal in gladwrap and advise that ACT Health will be asked to help investigate the incident. Refund the meal and give a voucher for a replacement.

ACT Health should be able to help in situations where the complaint has been manufactured, something that must always be considered a possibility, and in the meantime at minimal cost you’ve done what you can to restore your reputation.

That’s what you get for ordering the “Bear Grylls Special”… just be glad you didn’t have to bite the head off a lizard!

JessicaNumber9:40 am 11 Nov 10

Obviously wasn’t Rainbow Dreams. 😛

colourful sydney racing identity8:50 am 11 Nov 10

After suffering food posioning from a well known dial a pizza chain I contacted health protection. They advised that in food poisoning cases one should keep some of *erm* what your body evacuates for them to test.

EErrrkkkk!
Dont go back
Thanks for the advice

That’s a bit nasty. Good tips though.

Without a photo RiotACT doesn’t want to get into naming the cafe before anyone asks.

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