Gillian Keller
MALLORCA’S health inspectors are getting tough.
In an island-wide crackdown, they will be undertaking hundreds more random inspections this year.
In a bid to increase food standards, a massive 1,400 in-depth inspections are to be carried out in restaurants and bars.
The Department of Food Safety is to undertake the unscheduled visits, mostly in tourist areas, over the next six months.
The increased number of inspections has been ordered after the island’s health department found the general quality of hygiene has dropped over recent years.
According to the department, it is lower than many other parts of Spain.
The biggest cause for concern is eateries that pop up for just one season, a well as ‘pirate’ businesses that are unregistered and often don’t pay tax.
Last year 25 restaurants were shut down for health and safety violations, with an alarming 15 receiving a score of zero.
Minister of Health Margalida Buades, described the level as ‘terrible, an absolute disaster’.
Since then the island has seen a big hepatitis A outbreak in Palma, as well as a scandal involving a local company selling rotten, out-of-date meat around the island, as reported in the Olive Press two months ago.
Buades has also announced she would like see more transparency between health and safety and restaurant customers.
She is considering following the UK’s model of publishing health scores online for everyone to read.
