Hanmer Springs Bakery & Burgers — Restaurant in Canterbury

live maggots in cooked food - long review

At the manager's request we have waited a couple of days before posting to allow them time to begin a formal investigation and I have copied their updates below into our review. However, we felt we needed to share a public review before this concludes to enable potential customers to consider eating here for themselves.

We bought a vegetarian quiche from the Hanmer Bakery Cafe which was then heated in store before we took it away to eat. We walked a minute or two over the road to sit and eat our lunch, but after a number of bites, my wife noticed something moving in the quiche. Upon inspection, this was a number of live maggots (see video). This was obviously pretty disgusting and frankly quite traumatic for my wife.

Given that the quiche had presumably been baked, then chilled and then heated again, the existence of live maggots is quite alarming. To us, this suggests a serious failing with the supply of ingredients, processing, preparation, cooking or storage of food, or a combination of the above.

On returning to the cafe with the uneaten quiche, maggots still present, and the video, the gentleman working behind the counter seemed worryingly unsurprised and rather nonchalant - he simply placed the quiche on top of one of the heated cabinets and continued to take items out of the cabinets for other customers. After some insistence that the Bakery should probably do something about the maggots in their food, he offered a refund for the quiche.

After stating that we would be keen for the bakery to at least make a record of the issue/ complaint we were invited into the back of the kitchen to discuss the issue with the manager and filled out a formal complaint form and shared the video with them. The manager also seemed surprisingly unshocked and was pretty insistent that this couldn't happen as the quiche had been heated and there should be no meat in the quiche, until she watched the video, at which point she became more apologetic. She informed us that they have regular food hygenine inspections and have never had any issues like this before. From our perspective, there were a number of flies in the kitchen and plenty of uncovered food, so the likelihood of flies landing on and laying eggs in food after it has been baked doesn't feel impossible.

The manager did seem broadly apologetic although it unfortunately did not feel that the seriousness of this food safety issue was sufficiently comprehended, with food continuing to be sold from the same cabinet.

Whilst we appreciate that the Bakery has taken steps to investigate the issue, and that this suggests they have now taken it seriously, we feel that we cannot justifiably not share our experience.

Update(s) from the Bakery below:

1. "Hi, after your most unfortunate experience today I had the Regional Food Verification Officer from Hurunui District Council come in. I explained what had happened and she saw the video also. From there I walked her through the entire process of the quiche  from ingredients utensils baking cooling storing through to reheating and service. As our systems are strict current and thoroughly examined there seems no plausible explanation although the vegetables themselves were investigated and the possibility of the mushrooms were brought up. We would need to consider our vegetable supplier and timelines.

While we are vigilant and destroy alot of food to ensure our standard is upheld clearly there was a situation today where a lapse occurred and we will be monitoring staff handling, processes and stock moreso!

By way of expressing our regret for what you had to experience we will be forwarding you an evoucher in the hope you can find some  pleasant reprieve. Sincerely, All at Hanmer Bakery"

2. "Hi An update as we have taken your complaint very seriously we will be conducting official investigation tomorrow after further extensive research ellisting Experts the Food Safety Officer Staff and Ourselves.

We will send you a full report on our findings...

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