Gaungzhou restaurant closed over hygiene, expired food

By Juliet Waiswa                              

Filthy pans, cutlery and cooking stoves were quite a site in the Kitchen of Gaungzhou Jia when Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) Public Health team moved to close the Mabua road restaurant.

The Chinese owned restaurant was found with expired food dating back as far as 2008, 2010 and 2012 in their stores.

Some of the food items inscribed with Chinese language were found in the saucepans being prepared for the workers.

About 15 workers of the restaurant looked on helplessly as KCCA sealed off their work place.

One of the workers who preferred anonymity said that some of the expired food stuff was not prepared for their clients but for the workers.

A frying pan containing dirty cooking oil outside Ghuang Zhou Restaurant, Kololo, after it was closed, June.16, 2015. PHOTO/Kennedy Oryema

The owners of the restaurant who wanted to resist closure of some of the offices could not communicate in proper English but used their lawyers who declined to be named to negotiate with the KCCA enforcement team.

Around the compound were empty gas cylinders piled behind the kitchen which KCCA said were posing a health risk to the workers and the neighbourhood.

The restaurant which also doubles as offices for the Chinese, was sealed off leaving only the servants quarters open for some of the workers who reside there. 

"You cannot close the whole place. This is also our office," one of the lady manages tried to explain to KCCA official.

The lawyers explained to the proprietors that KCCA was carrying out its inspection in relation to the Public Health Laws which empowers them to inspect the entire restaurant including the kitchen for public safety.

"You need to comply as these officers are carrying out their duties. The have a law which empowers them to inspect," one of the lawyers explained.

KCCA's Johnson Kizza who carried out the inspection told the New Vision that during their routine inspection, they found a dirty kitchen, with lots of expired products.

Kizza explained that the owners of the restaurant have to report at the KCCA head office as their restaurant remains closed.

Denis Omodi, the head of health inspection KCCA said that the owners of the restaurant have on several occasions received warnings from KCCA, but they only changed their name from Green Tea, to Gaungzhou Jia.

KCCA has in the past sealed off restaurants and eateries in the city due to poor hygiene.