The Consumer Protection Authority inspected beaches and ice cream parlors

During the special inspections of the summer season, the National Trade and Consumer Protection Authority is closely monitoring ice cream parlors and beach buffets.

The aim of the inspections is to assess the extent to which food safety and hygiene regulations are being observed in the most popular summer catering establishments – they wrote.

As part of the national campaign, the NKFH and government agency employees inspected 292 ice cream parlors and 197 beach buffets in the first month of summer. The most frequently occurring problems resulted from inadequate compliance with hygiene regulations.

15.7 percent of the units lacked adequate handwashing facilities, hand sanitizer or paper towels. In several cases, the technical conditions for dishwashing did not meet legal requirements.

The operation of 11 catering establishments was temporarily suspended due to serious irregularities. These included excessive crowding, storage of objects other than food, heavily contaminated refrigerated counters, and the presence of insect remains in ice cream containers and on the surfaces of goods, they said.

Consumer information did not meet the requirements in several places, with allergens or artificial colors not being properly displayed in 9.1 percent of the facilities inspected.