Episode 8 Food Fighters

We're a nation of food lovers, and today there's more choice than ever.

Whether you are eating in or taking away,

there's always the chance that something can go wrong.

So it's a good job there's a whole army of people

working hard to keep us safe.

They are the Food Fighters.

Coming up today...

Meals in minutes, but what goes into ensuring

our TV dinners are completely safe to eat?

High-risk catering at a county show.

Got nine barbecues under cover in one place

and customers are cooking their own food?

-There are always raised eyebrows.

-I know.

And from fields to our fridge.

Will this unpasteurised cheese get the thumbs up?

Food safety and hygiene is mega-critical here

because I'm dealing with a raw product - raw cheese, raw milk.

'We Brits have been buying ready-prepared meals since the late 1970s.

'And the variety now on offer is simply staggering.

'From Chinese are to Italian, Indian to British classics -

'it's possible to eat our way around the world

'with dishes cooked in minutes.'

We all lead hectic lives,

and when cooking something from scratch isn't an option,

many of us reach for products from this aisle in our supermarket.

The ready meal market is big business.

Even though the products are convenient, they have to undergo

rigorous hygiene checks to ensure that they're safe to eat.

'Here at this food factory in Southall, West London,

'they make as many as 200,000 ready meals every day.

'On the production line for Sainsbury's supermarkets

'is one of our national dishes - chicken tikka masala.

'And making sure this yummy curry doesn't give us a dicky tummy

'is this Food Fighter.

'Alec Kyriakidis is the supermarket's head of safety.

'Today he's conducting one of his regular inspections here,

'to make sure the ready meals are being made safely.'

'First stop, goods in.

'Handling a very high-risk product.'

All right, so chicken comes in, what do we look for?

What does it look like, what does it smell like,

is it slimy, blood spots - there's no blood spots on there.

You are looking for things you wouldn't want such as gristle or bone.

We certainly don't want any bone in a product.

'The chicken pieces are also weighed here to ensure they are the right size.

'To big and the chicken might not be thoroughly cooked,

'increasing the risk of food poisoning.'

Chicken has been subject to many health scares over the years.

The main dangers from a piece of raw chicken are what?

Most people know that raw chicken is something you need to handle very carefully.

The two key microbiological safety concerns

are salmonella and campylobacter.

Salmonella is a lot lower than it ever has been in raw poultry

but it still can be there.

Campylobacter is there quite frequently,

therefore we all know it has to be cooked properly

and you have to make sure that you don't cross-contaminate

between the raw chicken and the cooked chicken.

'Spices are the key ingredient in any curry,

'so I'm following my nose to the most aromatic room in the factory.'

Ah! Look at this!

This is glorious.

The smell in here is fantastic.

You get cloves, cardamom, cumin, coriander, garam masala,

lovely cinnamon bark in there, dried chillies. It's just beautiful.

'But while you might imagine these would be very low risk,

'the vibrant colours could signal danger.'

I suppose that because all of these spices are imported

then there are still health and safety issues here.

Absolutely. I think you can't take anything for granted.

You might remember many years ago the issue with Sudan 1,

where people were adding illegal dyes to some of the spices.

You can see the vivid colours here, there is the risk

that people could actually try for example to add Sudan 1

to really make that red more vibrant.

These will be subject to testing particularly for chemical

and microbiological hazards

that could be present associated with them.

Now I've got all of these in front of me and they are all going to be measured, I want to get cooking now.

Let's go through and see how it's all brought together in the pan.

'I absolutely love cooking curry,

'and how they create the tikka masala ready meal

'isn't so different to how I'd make it.

'For the marinade I'd add my spice mix and yoghurt... '

' ..before adding my chicken.'

'But obviously one thing I don't do

'is make curry on such an industrial scale,

'and here they're using a catering cement mixer to do it.'

The whole idea is to really maximise the interaction

between the marinade and the chicken,

because what that does is it helps you absorb all that flavour into the chicken very quickly.

What's happening temperature-wise at this point?

When the chicken comes in raw, keeping that temperature down is so important.

-Are we still fairly cold at this point?

-Absolutely.

They tumble for about half-an-hour maximum.

They'll go back into the chiller, they'll be held there just to stabilise for another half-hour

and then they'll be straight on the line to be cooked.

Once the chicken is marinated it's flame-grilled in one of these huge ovens.

When it comes out the other side its core temperature is monitored

to make sure it's cooked through.

'Elsewhere in the factory, the masala sauce is being cooked up.

'But it's in the pilau rice where the next food poisoning nasty could be lurking.'

Rice is one of those things I think a lot of people don't realise

how dangerous it can be in terms of getting food poisoning.

Yes. There are inherent risks with rice, particularly when you are cooking it on a large scale.

Most people think you are cooking it, you are boiling it,

and therefore nothing is a problem afterwards, everything is killed.

But there are some spore-forming bacteria that can remain.

Once the rice is then cooked,

if you leave it for too long it stays warm and moist.

-Perfect conditions for bacteria.

-Perfect conditions.

Those spores germinate and grow, and as a consequence you can be ill.

'To stop bacteria growing, the rice is spread evenly on these trays

'before being whisked through to the massive blast chiller.'

The aim of the blast chiller is actually to blow cool air over it

to take the heat out of it very quickly

and to get it to a temperature where those bacteria aren't going to grow.

So does that mean now, because this is now a cooked product,

that the next stage for us is to move into the high-risk side?

Absolutely. Let's go and get changed into high-risk kit.

I love a bit of danger, Alec, I love a bit of danger.

Coming up...

Vital advice at the County Show.

I normally sacrifice one burger, breaking it open to make sure

it's cooked all the way through and the juices are running clear.

Very important, because if it's pink, it's trouble.

'But first, despite the recent credit crunch, eating out is more popular than ever in the UK.

'But even if a restaurant is recommended by a newspaper or website review,

'it's worth knowing if it hits the highs when it comes to hygiene.

'So we've been following environmental health officers up and down the country.

'And it's their job to make sure your evening out won't buy you

'a case of food poisoning.'

'Leigh-on-Sea, Essex.

'In a one-time working boatyard sits The Boatyard restaurant.

'It offers a fine dining experience with estuary views,

'and goes down well with locals and tourists.

'Today, Environmental Health Officer Steve Ramm has sailed in

'to make sure there's no chance of anyone getting sick.'

On the website that gives scores for restaurants we find this one is

giving the highest number of hits, so that's a sign of how popular it is.

When it received its last inspection about a year ago,

despite its popularity on the ratings

it only got a description of broadly compliant, which is not alarming

but we'd like to think it could do better than that.

-Hello there.

-'Steve meets head chef John.'

That's right, Steve Ramm, Southend Council, how do you do?

'The last inspection here didn't go well.

'So John has been working hard to steer this restaurant in the right direction.'

'John takes Steve to the main food prep area.

'There's plenty of space at The Boatyard.

'Steve thinks he could use it better.'

Yes, in the past we've said if you do raw food on a worktop

and then later on you're doing ready-to-eat food, make sure you sanitise.

That's what we've been saying for a long time.

The new guidance says you ought really to have a separate area, designate a separate area.

I would think you've got...

You've got two sides of a stainless-steel worktop, that should be quite easy.

'Cross-contamination is one of the most common causes of food poisoning.

'Making sure no bugs from raw meat find their way to

'the ready-to-eats means safer food on the punters' plates.'

'By the same token, when raw meat is stored

'it should be kept at the bottom,

'so juices don't drip down on to other food.'

-Cooked meats.

-Yeah.

-Sauces.

So once again you've thought about the fact we've got raw meats at the bottom where they should be,

cooked meats at the top where they should be, and sauces in the middle.

-Everything is separate.

-OK.

'The fridge temperature should be no higher than eight degrees Celsius.

'Anything higher would allow harmful bacteria to grow.

'Steve is happy with all but one fridge.'

I'm actually getting eight and nine, which is what this is saying.

'This fridge is more of a storage space for low risk foods, so it's not a major issue.'

But you do need to keep an eye to make sure you bring it back to below eight.

'Steve has to use all his findings to come up with an overall score.

'The food fighters grade every outlet from 0 - 5.'

I think I've seen all I need to see today.

'At its last inspection The Boatyard just kept its head above water with a two.

'John is desperate to climb the ladder.'

I've been as honest and as positive as I possibly can.

I've played by the books, I've done everything they've told me to do

and I hope that reflects in the report.

'Moment of truth time.'

-This is my report form.

-'Will The Boatyard have won a few more stars?'

And it confirms, as we've discussed as we've gone around,

that you have made some improvements since the last inspection.

You've gone from a two to a four, which is described as good.

'So it's four for The Boatyard, and with a few more improvements

'this restaurant could easily achieve five.'

I'm pretty happy. We've got four stars, a score of four.

It's a massive improvement to when she last come in,

which was pretty shocking.

But obviously the next step is now five stars,

and that's what I'm looking forward to getting.

'From Essex to one of the world's foremost learning institutions -

'Oxford University.'

'In the new biochemistry building,

'there's a popular cafe serving hungry science students.

'Students and good food don't normally go together,

'but like any restaurant, this one will have to make the grade.'

How you doing?

'So Food Fighter Richard Kuziara is taking a trip down memory lane.'

I always enjoyed being a student.

It's coming back to me now.

Good. Want a job?

'Catering manager Karen fills him in on what they do here.'

We have at least one or two hot other choices.

Today, we've got cannelloni and we've got fish.

OK. And again, that's all prepared on the day.

-That's all prepared fresh every day.

-OK. Great. Nice.

'Health inspections can be as nerve-wracking as exams, but Karen's calm.'

I've had no problems about this. You know, everyone was saying "Oh, they're coming."

I said, "Don't worry about it. Do what you do.

"If you're doing something wrong, we'll find out

"and we can put it right."

'And Richard's giving it a big tick so far.'

The whole thing just is like really bright and airy and lovely, isn't it?

'Especially when he gets a load of the supersized butties.'

That's a sandwich and a half, that, isn't it?

Definitely a man's sandwich. Excellent.

You've got stuff for the skint students as well. That's all good.

'Time for some science, then, in the biochemistry building.

'Richard aims his laser to check fridge temperatures.'

The temperature inside, yeah, is good.

'It's full marks so far for front of house.'

-This looks really nice.

-Thank you.

-I wasn't expecting it to be quite such nice home-prepared stuff.

I thought, well, you know, it's... yeah, yeah.

'But when Richard heads into the kitchen... '

-Right. You want to come round this way?

-Yeah, please.

'Will the raw elements pass the test?'

-Later...

-You can't wash your hands in it. It's too hot.

'Will Oxford University's cafe make the grade?'

You do need hot water, but you don't want it too hot.

If it's too hot, it's going to scald your hands.

'Now, most milk and cheese that we buy has been pasteurised.

'This extreme heating kills off any dodgy lurking bacteria,

'but some cheese makers believe that unpasteurised or raw milk can give a better flavour.

'Now that might be true, but how can we be sure that this cheese is safe to eat?'

'This is Mrs Kirkham's Dairy near Preston in Lancashire.

'Here they handle every stage of cheese production.'

'From the cows in the field...

'to milking in the parlours...

'to the final big cheese.'

'The boss here is a firm believer in using unpasteurised milk.'

My name's Graham Kirkham, and I make a raw milk unpasteurised Lancashire cheese.

Food safety and hygiene is megacritical here,

because we're dealing with a raw product. Raw cheese, raw milk.

'But aren't Graham's methods of cheese-making risky?

'Well, today he should find out because a Food Fighter has come calling.

'Simon Neighbour is an Environmental Health Officer from Preston Council,

'and he's here to inspect the dairy.'

-Hey, Graham.

-'Before the inspection begins,

'it's vital the pair don't introduce any contaminants into the dairy.'

As we've come up the path earlier on, there could have been

anything on the path that picks up contaminations.

So stick the wellies on, they'll go through the foot bath more easily,

and you just make sure the footwear is sanitised and don't introduce any bacteria into the processing area.

'Wellied up, they can enter.

'The cheese-making at Mrs Kirkham's is very hands-on.

'So the first critical step for Simon

'is to check that hand-washing is up to scratch.'

So here we're just making sure we've got

hot and cold or appropriately mixed water. So that's a nice temperature.

If it's too cold, you tend not to wash your hands for very long.

Soap, obviously.

Something you can then dry your hands on.

You've then got an alcohol gel,

which is excellent for giving a final clean and sanitise the hands.

'Now it's time to inspect the key areas.

'Once the cows are milked, their milk passes through a big tank into this room.

'It's here that the cheese-making magic begins.'

We add a culture, called starter, which looks like a natural yoghurt.

That goes in, then 20 minutes later you put a rennet in,

which basically sets the milk.

Looks like a blancmange. Which creates this sort of a thing.

Makes it set like that.

The curds will sink and the whey will come to the top.

In about another hour's time, we'll drain all this off

and we'll just be left with the curds in the bottom.

'The whey is simply a byproduct, and can now be used as animal feed.

'The remaining curd is the stuff that will eventually become cheese.'

'So Simon must ensure the curd-making methods are safe.'

OK, so just looking at the structure,

and the cleanliness on this, and the state of repair, that's all fine.

There's nothing looking like it's going to flake or be dropping into the milk.

All the welding's good.

'Simon's checks are crucial in keeping cheese-eaters safe from danger microorganisms.'

Those organisms don't affect how the product looks or tastes or smells,

so it could look absolutely fine,

taste fine when you're eating it, no off odours, but those pathogens

can cause illness 12-36 hours later.

With listeria, there's an incubation time of 70 days

between eating the product and it actually making you ill.

So it's keeping an eye on the process,

making sure the cheese develops as you would expect it to do.

'There's no pasteurisation process to kill germs in the milk.

'This makes it all the more important nothing contaminates the milk flow.

'The best way of keeping things clean is thorough, regular test swabs.'

The whole dairy's swabbed, actually, on a weekly basis now.

Tap end. Corners in this vat.

Floor, drains, you know.

'Graham's anti-contamination efforts look thorough.

'They should help stop this curd picking up germs

'before it enters the next stage, the curd bin.'

The purpose of this is to drain more of the whey off,

so we cut this up and we break it to help drainage.

Then we press it again, and we do this sort of three times,

and then it's left till the following morning.

'But draining isn't the only thing going on here.

'Lactic acid is now produced by the live culture in this curd.

'The acid not only adds flavour, but prevents the growth of bad bacteria.'

This is what we made yesterday.

Sort of rubbery curd, no whey left in it.

Nice and dry, nice and squidgy.

-OK.

-Plenty of acidity.

1.4 or 14 on the acidity, so that's high, that's really good.

Nice milky smells coming off it. It's good. That's how we want it.

'These high acidity levels are good for the taste -

'and good for safety too.

'What's more, as cheese matures, acidity levels rise.

'This produces an ever-increasing defence against bad bacteria.'

'But the danger of contamination remains throughout.

'These are the cheese presses.

'Used to, well, press cheese, really.

'And they're next on Simon's checklist.'

Because it's a really moist environment, quite steamy,

rust develops quite quickly, but these are in good condition.

Blue is a good colour, because if any of the paint did flake off and got through the covering,

you'd be able to pick it up straight away.

'And here we are at the very end of the cheese journey and Simon's inspection. The storage room.'

So cheese is turned every few weeks.

'Key for Simon here is the labelling, and of course those all-important temperature checks.'

We keep this room at about 12-14 degrees,

so it's quite warm in some respects.

-We need that bit of warmth, because that's what keeps the starter culture working.

-Sure.

Which keeps all the pathogens at bay, which builds up the acidity,

and we also need it to be able to get this rind growth.

If it's too cold we won't get this nice white mould growing.

'And at the end of his inspection, it's feedback time.'

You slightly improved your score on last time.

Pretty much as good as you can get now. Keep doing that.

Keep doing what we're doing.

'Graham may only have a small dairy...'

All right, cheers.

'but when it comes to food safety, he really is a big cheese.'

Yeah, sure, it's a good inspection,

and I hope that the next one will be the same, if not even better.

That's how it is. That's how it has to be. That's how it has to be.

I have to say, this has been one of the hardest things

I've had to do on Food Fighters, because curry is my thing,

and if I'm honest with you, if they sold lager in here, I'd never leave.

When it comes to eating red meat, many people like to eat it rare.

But there's a clear distinction that must be made

between burgers and steak.

Bacteria like E-coli, survive on the outside of the meat

so as long as you cook the outside of the steak or roast beef,

you're going to be OK.

But burgers are a completely different story.

Because they're made of minced beef,

it means that every single grain of the burger has been exposed to those food poisoning nasties.

It's therefore vital that burgers are cooked through.

'It's the second day of the Devon County Show.

'And the crowds are pouring in to sample the local produce.

'There's a lot of high risk outdoor cooking going on here

'but if any vendor plans to cut corners, they'd better think again.

'There's a Food Fighter here

'with a name to strike fear into the heart of any rogue trader.

BUGLE CALL

My name is Dick Turpin

and it's my job to maintain food standards at open-air events.

# Stand and Deliver, your money or your life. #

'Catering steward Dick Turpin needs to check every stall here'

'but it's the red meat and burgers that's his priority.'

We're going to get 90,000 people in three days to feed,

and we take that very seriously.

You're running at 78, when you only need 75. That's all right.

'Dick knows a lapse in standards today would not only be a public health calamity,

'it would also be an economic disaster for the whole Devon Show.'

And that's what? 77? 78? Very good.

One bad bit of publicity on food safety, overnight,

could affect the number of visitors the following day.

'Right, let's get started.'

'At this stand, they don't deliver, but they do bacon, burgers, sausages and beef.

'And it's burgers that Dick needs to keep a keen eye on today.

'Burgers rank amongst the most high-risk food.

'That's because minced beef could contain E-coli.

'E-coli causes sickness, diarrhoea, fever, and can even prove fatal.

'So, your burgers must be cooked throughout

'to kill off this food-poisoning nasty.'

Let's have a look at the burgers today.

Probably the biggest seller on the whole thing.

'Back at the Devon burger stall,'

'and Dick wants to see how they're standing up to the regulations.'

-How often do you do temperature control?

-I try and do them regular.

Also, in terms of cooking them, I do like to probe

to check the temperature.

If I cook one batch,

I normally sacrifice one burger,

breaking it open to make sure

it's cooked through

and the juices are running clear.

Very important. If it's pink, it's trouble.

'Now Dick wants to know that burgers aren't left sitting around.'

They come in stacks of eight.

We cook two or three stacks, depending on how busy we are,

serve them, and once they're going really low,

new batch, so that the food's always getting rolled over,

and nothing's getting kept there for too long.

'That's music to Dick's ears, because quick turnover'

'means less opportunity for harmful bacteria to grow.'

OK, we'll just go round to the store, there.

'Before leaving, Dick has a quick butcher's at the storage tent.'

OK, Paul, this is the ambient storage, isn't it?

Any ambient foods are well clear of the floor,

because of vermin or anything else.

OK, Paul, any problems this morning, staffing or anything?

No, everyone's here nice and early, food cooking, ready for a good day at the show. Hopefully.

OK, well, make sure you cook those burgers well.

-Thanks very much.

-I'll see you later on. Bye-bye.

'This stall is given the OK to carry on grilling, so Dick can move on.

'With more than 50 vendors operating here today,

'Dick has his work cut out.

'But it's the meat stall that poses the biggest risks.

'And, whereas Dick can be happy that most know how to cook a burger properly,'

'there's one that isn't cooking them at all.'

This is the thing, you know,

it's the first time I've ever seen our visitors cooking their own food.

We're actually serving raw meat to the general public,

to cook themselves.

For all Health and Safety executives coming onto the site new,

for the first time, seeing what we do,

there are always raised eyebrows, as they look round and they think,

"Hang on a minute, we've got nine barbecues, undercover,

"in one place and customers are cooking their own food."

And it slightly puts the fear of God into them.

Once we explain how we manage it, what we do,

what our practices are, they then go away, relaxed.

'The customers are cooking their own dinner.

'Dick wants to know how they do this, safely.'

Run me through it, what happens, if I sit down as a customer,

and have a look at a menu.

OK, so, we do provide guidance to people,

on how to cook their food, we do advise customers that

they should be cooking their burgers until juices run clear.

The burgers, we don't actually probe test.

What we do, burgers we simply do a break test on the burger,

use a set of tongs and just part the meat slightly,

and as soon as the juices run clear, that's then good to serve.

A misnomer amongst people in cooking burgers

is that it's OK to have raw,

but in fact, minced meat has been exposed to the environment

and you can actually get bacteria on the inside.

'So, that's the cooking, but with all this raw meat around,

'failure to keep temperature records would be truly criminal.'

For every show we go to, we record all of our cold food,

and our cooked food temperatures, we record them on this,

to make sure that we keep the right record.

We've got salad bar temperatures, we're allowed to go up to eight,

so five is good, normally, everything else, we keep that four.

-Yes.

-And that's showing four there, so that's fine.

'This stall is selling cooked as well as raw meat.

'Dick needs to be convinced there's no cross-contamination. 'This means taking a look out back.'

You're doing well on this storage in the fridge,

you haven't got any food down at floor level.

Well done you. All the best. Thanks.

'It's an ambitious idea,

'but the stall is handling the risks well,

'and Dick thinks they have risen to the outdoor catering challenge.'

Firstly, I was impressed with the computerised recording of the temperatures.

He had the right numbers, and the fact that he keeps a back-up,

so that's all good news.

In terms of how the actual inspection went, very relaxed,

he had no complaints or issues with what we're doing,

so as far as I'm concerned, it's a clean bill of health

and we're good to go.

As the day draws to a close in Devon,

this food fighter is satisfied that the show has been a runaway success.

Thanks to Dick Turpin, knight of the roadshow,

customers can rest assured whether it's their money, or their life, it's in safe hands.

I'm in a food factory discovering how ready-meal curries

are manufactured for Sainbury's.

Their head of safety Alex

has been showing how the dinners are made.

But now I'm about to enter the danger zone.

For the fashion conscious, might I recommend food factory live?

We're in the high risk area and I have natty new footwear

and, as you can all see, I think I'm a redhead.

Here we move from industrial cooking to something we'd all recognise as being in a factory.

The production line.

What are the risks we've got now then?

Essentially we've cooked all of these products.

We now have to treat them as a true ready to eat product.

What we're trying to do is avoid any contamination at this point.

The ladies are wearing gloves,

they have appropriate covering on their hair

and all of this is designed to manufacture this in a hygienic way.

Preventing cross-contamination between low and high risk areas

is crucial in a place like this.

And, to stop germs moving between the two zones,

there's also an invisible food fighter at work.

It's called positive air flow.

I've heard a lot about the positive air flow, what does that mean?

We're trying to push the micro-organisms from here into there.

High risk into low risk?

We don't want anything from the low risk when we've been handling raw chicken.

-We don't want any coming here.

-How do you know it works, then?

Well, I'll show you, watch this bit of paper.

Ah...

You can see how the air is blowing everything out of this room

and stopping anything coming back from the other room.

Impressive, Alex. Impressive.

The packaged meals are also passed through a metal detector

to check no nuts or bolts have gone into the curry.

It's almost the end of the line.

I think there's something quite exciting about production lines.

I like the way it's all pieced together.

The logistical side of being a chef, it's exciting when you piece

a meal together, whether it be here or in the restaurant.

There we go, look at that. Perfect.

We've got rice, chicken, and sauce on there.

This has been one of the hardest things I've had to do

on food fighters because curry is my thing.

If I'm honest with you, if they sold lager in here, I'd never leave.

Before these Indian meals can be enjoyed with a pint,

they're labelled up

and sent off to the supermarket in temperature-controlled trucks.

But some of them won't be hitting the shelves.

Instead they'll be subject to even more scrutiny

to ensure their fellow curries are safe for us to eat.

So yesterday I got involved in making a chicken tikka masala curry ready meal.

Today I've come to an independent laboratory that tests the cooking instructions on the packet

to ensure that the product is safe to eat.

Road testing some of our favourite ready meals falls to this food fighter.

My name is Sue White.

My job is to make sure the cooking instructions on these ready meals make them safe and tasty.

The cooking instructions on this say, "Place on a non-metallic plate,

"microwave on full power for four minutes, after piercing the lid several times."

And into the microwave.

The first stage is four minutes. One, two, three, four.

-Away we go.

-Because the overall time is going to be six and a half.

-That's correct.

With chicken, what kind of things can go wrong at this stage?

Occasionally we've had problems with chicken bursting,

chicken exploding, but it doesn't often happen.

-Just from some suppliers.

-Why does that happen?

Maybe a high fat sauce, a korma sauce, high fat content.

The microwave reacts all over the place.

We usually rewrite the cooking instructions.

Often add an extra stir so we do it in short, sharp bursts.

Now I must stress exploding poultry is incredibly rare

and with Sue here they'll be no chance of this happening in our homes.

But, as instructed, we give the curry a good stir

and cook for a further two-and-a-half minutes.

Fantastic. OK.

Next stage, it's time to test

if this microwave meal is hot enough to eat and I don't mean spicy.

So we have a set of probes here that we insert into the product.

If I put this into the piece of chicken,

this will test the temperature.

What has to happen from a health and safety point of view,

-we have to hold a minimum of 72 for two minutes.

-Yes.

-OK.

If the food does this, any harmful bacteria will be eliminated.

-This is holding up really well.

-It is, yes.

It looks as if the cooking instructions are spot on for this curry

but that's not always the case.

Why would that maybe not happen? Not sufficient cooking time?

Probably insufficient cooking time.

Sometimes adding half a minute can add several degrees.

You can adjust it up and down,

it's not always as logical as you would imagine it to be.

With the test over, how's our tikka masala measured up?

You can see on this particular product

that the lowest temperature was 78.

So we've met our criteria of 72 for two minutes.

But there's one final test to ensure this curry is fit for you to eat.

There's a plate, just dive in.

Do you know what? I'm going to dive in.

-It's tender, succulent?

-Mmm.

-Nice and moist?

-I'm happy with that, are you?

-I think that's excellent.

OK, you can go now. There's nothing to see here.

There you have it, start to finish, it's now on the supermarket shelf.

Look, hundreds of ready meals

and now you can rest assured that every single time you pick one off the shelf,

the tests that its gone through means it's going to be safe and delicious to eat.

With more than 30,000 restaurants in the UK,

many people are spoilt for choice.

But when you can't see the food being prepared, or cooked,

how can you be sure that a restaurant or cafe's hygiene standards are up to scratch?

Thankfully, food fighters up and down the country are ensuring that they make the grade.

We're back at Oxford University.

It's produced prime ministers, Nobel Prize winners and Olympic champions.

And in the new biochemistry building,

it's producing some pretty decent grub.

That's a sandwich and half, isn't it?

That's what environmental health officer, Richard, thinks so far.

I do like a little bit of Bakewell tart.

Now he's looking behind the scenes and his first concern here is the hot water.

You can't wash your hands in it, it's too hot.

It's coming out at 60 degrees.

Great to blast bacteria but not great for us.

Hand washing is one of the most important ways of avoiding cross-contamination in the kitchen.

You do need hot water but you don't want it too hot.

If it's too hot, it's going to scald your hands.

Having to put the plug in, put the cold water in, put the hot water in.

It's going to take ages, it's not conducive to easy hand washing.

So I'm going to recommend, this is purely a recommendation,

that they have a single lever mixer tap on.

They can knock up with the back of a hand and the water will come out something like 43 degrees.

Now Richard turns to the temperature of the food.

What happens, Sam, if you don't get the temperature you want?

-Put it back in.

-Put it back in. Fine.

Top marks to the chef and the storage area is also first class.

The swankiest storeroom I've seen in a while, this.

It's nice you've got the space, isn't it?

It's one of the problems I perennially see in Oxford.

All the space gone at the front and then no room out the back at all.

-This is just your freezer, is it?

-Yes.

-Good.

It should be minus 18 or colder.

For Richard, this is all cool. In fact, too much so.

I'm happy with that. It's too cold to stay in here too long.

We stay in the warm, nice places when we're doing visits.

Now it's results time. Richard will award a score out of five.

Your systems and procedures are good, your food safety management stuff's good.

You've done your hygiene training. There are no contraventions.

-You'll be pleased to know you've got five stars.

-Wow!

The highest one you can get. Thank you very much. It's a lovely kitchen.

What's more important is the way you're running it.

If it was badly run, you'd still only be...

You could still get zero stars on a brand new kitchen like this.

-Thank you.

-Thank you very much.

-Much appreciated.

I'm going to buy a sandwich off you. I'm absolutely starving.

Over in Westcliff-on-Sea in Essex is The Estuary.

This restaurant serves up salads and grills.

On this promenade, a good safety reputation

could make the difference when it comes to pulling in the punters.

Steve is in the middle of his inspection with his head chef.

I can see stainless steel, which is good.

It's quite well organised,

you've got a hand basin close to the preparation surfaces.

To minimise the risk of spreading germs,

it's best to use paper towels.

If you've got this roll of towel, which is very good,

what are these cloths used for?

-I just use these to hold the trays and stuff.

-OK.

I haven't got any problem using it to hold hot handles,

or even cleaning the floor,

but I'm a bit concerned to see it on this stainless steel top because that's not a good place to keep it.

Despite the hiccup, this kitchen is pretty clean.

Yeah, you show me.

And the chef is very much a spray, wipe and throw-away man.

Take it out, wipe it, yeah. Just a little tip about that.

If you read what it says on these things, you need to give it contact time.

Yeah, I know.

This means the amount of time you leave the spray to work

against bacteria before wiping.

When you've got a bit of time to leave this on,

five or ten minutes if you can. But if you haven't got that time,

still use it because half a minute or so is better than not using it.

Now Steve wants to see Refki's ingredients.

-The Cajun chicken.

-Right, that's got a flavouring, it's marinating.

-It's marinating. The date is there.

-Right.

When it comes to cross-contamination from raw meat, the risks are low here.

When you go to use these, what would happen

when you come to use one of these?

-I put it on the grill.

-On the grill from there.

-You want me to put on?

-No, no.

-There's almost no preparation with chicken happening on these worktops.

-No, no, no.

No, that's good. That's good.

-Inspection over.

-I think I'm satisfied that I've seen enough.

-Now it's just a question of those scores.

-Five, very good.

-So, hopefully, you'll like to put that in the window.

-Thank you very much.

So a good set of inspections all round.

It's certainly great to know, that regardless of what restaurant reviews you read,

the food fighters have been there first.

Bye.

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