 Restaurant at centre of 'pink' burger case closes |
A burger joint that
fought and lost a court case to serve rare burgers has closed its doors saying
the legal bid has made the businesses financially unviable.
6oz Burgers in
Southsea, Portsmouth, lost a court battle to serve ‘pink’ burgers against
Portsmouth City Council in 2015.
This resulted in the
restaurant being ordered to pay the council’s court costs of £25,000 in
addition to its own court fees in the region of £100,000.
In 2014 the council’s
environmental health officers placed an emergency hygiene notice on the
restaurant because it did not have a proper system to ensure the undercooked
burgers were safe.
The restaurant stopped
selling rare burgers and the council lifted the notice. However, the business then
challenged the basis of the notice in court.
The owners of the
restaurant, Piotr Mientkiewicz and
James Baldry, who will continue to run another restaurant nearby, posted
on their Facebook page: ‘It is with great sadness to announce that 6oz
has closed its doors for good this week.
‘A number of factors –
most notably the “pink burger” court case which we fought and lost against
Portsmouth City Council – has meant that the business is no longer financially
viable.’
The comments section
has attracted criticism of the council.
After the court case district
judge Anthony Callaway wrote in his ruling: ‘The court is satisfied that the
prohibition was justified and that a health risk condition was fulfilled in
respect of the food business, here 6oz Burgers at the time when the notice was
served.’
While other eateries
have been allowed to continue to serve undercooked burgers the case against 6oz
centred around there not being a detail around its mince supply chain to show
that the meat had not come into contact with any bacteria prior to being made
into burgers.
If the restaurant had
been able to show validated food safety systems in place, it could have
continued serving the undercooked burgers. Subsequently to the court case the
FSA has issued guidance on how establishments can safely serve pink burgers.
The Food Standards
Agency also provides guidance for the public advising on how to cook burgerssafely, which also explains the safety implications of serving ‘rare’ burgers
compared to rare steak.
Portsmouth Council
refused to comment but following the court case it said it was simply following
the FSA's advice to take action against businesses serving
undercooked meat, to protect public health.