Last week, the Middlesex-London Health Unit launched a new food inspection disclosure website, allowing London residents to easily access the results of health compliance checks.

According to the website, residences and other food services offered on Western’s campus received both critical and non-critical infractions.

“With 60 operations and 500 people, I mean even though we expect perfection, there could be some minor adjustments that are required,” Frank Miller, director of hospitality services at Western, said.

The Spoke and the Wave — owned by the University Students’ Council — each had one critical infraction.

David White, manager of environmental health at MLHU explained the difference between critical and non-critical infractions: “[Critical is] an infraction that could lead to food poisoning [...] Critical violations are more like temperature and food handling violations or sections of the regulation that one must comply to. The non-critical are more of the equipment and construction type infractions.”

Dan Moulton, USC vice-president university affairs, said Western’s food operations are consistent with the rest of London.

“If you look through that list, most restaurants have at least one critical or non-critical infraction [...] It seems to be a very standard practice,” he said.

Miller noted one of the infractions reported by the public health inspectors involved a delivery case that needed to be picked up from the floor and put away.

“In some cases a lot of the conditions observed can be corrected on site and we call that [Corrected During Inspection],” White explained. “Looking at the Spoke […] the critical was corrected on site as a CDI, so you look at that and yes there were two infractions, but at the end of the day, I think the public is going to take a look at your setting there in [Western], and probably compare it to other places.”

While Miller believed the disclosure of information would be beneficial for the food industry, he felt there was still some confusion about the upcoming rating system and the difference between critical and non-critical infractions.

“It is a bit of a learning curve as to what the health department is looking for,” Miller added.

“There has to be a level of understanding on the part of the public when they are using this website that perhaps they shouldn’t read everything at face value. Just because it’s on the Internet doesn’t mean that it’s true,” Moulton said.

Miller assured the infractions are either fixed on the spot or within 24 hours in accordance with hospitality services’ policy.

“The USC is fully confident in our management [...] The kitchens in the Spoke and the Wave are shining examples of the highest quality of health standards as much as they are the highest standard of food service in London,” Moulton added.

—With files from Cheryl Stone