Getty ImagesMichelin-starred restaurants should not have to abide by normal health and safety rules, food critic Giles Coren has said.
The writer claimed inspectors needed to “modernise” after two-star Ynyshir Restaurant and Rooms received a hygiene rating of one out of five after food safety officers visited on 5 November.
According to the Food Standards Agency (FSA), that means “major improvement” is required at the site in Machynlleth, Ceredigion, which charges almost £500 per head.
Coren, who visited Ynyshir in 2022, said high-end restaurants were “a different sort of world”.
Speaking on Radio 4’s World at One programme, he said: “It is not little kitchens and pots boiling away, mimsy little things being placed on plates.
“He is cooking with fire… He stands there in his leather apron and it’s roaring like fireworks.
“You’re also, conversely, served quite a lot of raw food. He’s talking about sushi, Japanese techniques.”
Coren said the rules “should probably be modernised”.
“The normal health and safety things, I think it’s fair enough, don’t really apply,” he said.
“It’s much harder to do. It’s not about your fridge and ‘have you put the roast chicken from last night next to the raw chicken’, which can lead to bacteria, it’s a different sort of world.
“They are clearly doing enough to prevent the spread of bacteria but if you imagine a hygiene inspector, in his white coat, with his pen in his top pocket, expecting to see a neat provincial fridge, I can see that he would lose his mind [over Ynyshir].”
‘No food business above the law’
The Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH) said Coren risked giving the impression food hygiene rules were “optional, subjective or old fashioned”.
It reiterated they were not and existed to protect the public.
“No dining experience, however unusual or exclusive, sits outside the law,” it said.
CIEH’s food advisory panel chairwoman, Una Kane, said the institute was “disappointed” by Coren’s views, which included “common misconceptions about the purpose of food safety standards”.
Getty Images“Coren suggested that the nature of the restaurant which was the subject of a really low food hygiene rating… meant that ‘normal health and safety things’ should not apply,” said Kane.
“We are appalled at the suggestion that it should be considered optional for certain kinds of restaurants to meet legal standards.
“Many restaurants offer a unique experience for diners while meeting the standards of food hygiene legislation.
“It’s insulting to those restaurateurs to imply you can’t do both. No food business should see itself as above the law.”
In Wales, it is mandatory for restaurants to display food hygiene ratings.
Kane said Ynyshir’s rating meant it was operating below minimum legal standards.
She denied food hygiene inspections were a “tick-box exercise” but critical to ensuring food was being handled and produced hygienically.
“Consumers have a right to expect that wherever they choose to eat, the same basic standards apply. That principle is non-negotiable.
“We welcome that the restaurant has recognised the concerns raised and is working co-operatively with the local environmental health team to remedy the issues raised.”
Chef Ward, who has featured as a guest judge on MasterChef: The Professionals, previously said he was not embarrassed by the score.
The restaurant said it was working “at the highest standard in the world” and doing “something different” with how it approaches raw ingredients and techniques.