9 restaurants in Norway shut down for hygiene breaches

Norway's food safety authority said Tuesday it has found gross hygiene breaches and closed down nine take-away restaurants in Oslo and neighboring areas during recent inspections.

Dirty premises, rat droppings and lack of hygiene were what the food safety authority found in unannounced inspections in a total of 40 restaurants from April 4 to 6, the agency said in a statement.

28 businesses received notification of decision on imposition of corrections, and nine businesses were closed because of very poor hygiene.

"The findings that were made during take-away inspections are disappointing," Marit Kolle, head of department of the food safety authority in Oslo, Asker and Baerum told newspaper VG.

The inspection focused on the cleanliness and order of the companies, personal hygiene of the employees, routines to avoid cross pollution and temperature control related to cold storage, cooling and thawing, VG reported.

"At some of the places that were closed on site, the inspectors observed shockingly bad hygiene. Among other things, there were obvious signs of significant pest activity in areas where food is stored or treated," Kolle said.

According to Kolle, this year's inspection showed even worse results than during the previous campaigns in the same industry in 2014 and 2015.

The authority emphasized that basic understanding of good hygiene is crucial for this type of business.

"It is important that those responsible for the operation of a take-away restaurant give their employees sufficient training so that they can maintain good kitchen hygiene," Kolle said.