Hundreds of gripes on restaurants in Staffordshire and the Black Country
Hundreds of complaints were made about Staffordshire and Black Country restaurants and takeaways last year but only a handful had to close.
In Dudley, the council received 82 complaints about the condition of food, 148 on food hygiene and 53 on food poisoning.
Despite this, only one takeaway, one restaurant and one other caterer were closed down by the council – all for pest infestation reasons.
Wolverhampton City Council received 910 complaints – 96 relating to hygiene – and shut four premises while Sandwell Council received 113 complaints relating to hygiene and closed five – one retailer and four catering premises.
No premises that serve food were closed in Walsall in 2011/ 2012 although one was prosecuted for allowing cleanliness to fall below legal standards.
The authority received 189 food related allegations.
Stafford Borough Council received 23 complaints, but forced no eateries to close.
Councillor Ian Jones, Sandwell's cabinet member for neighbourhood services, said: "There is a set procedure that local authorities have to go through," he said.
"All complaints are investigated and if they go in and find something that needs to be closed down they will close it down.
"An allegation about an unclean carpet does not mean the kitchen is unclean."
Councillor Tracy Wood, Dudley Council cabinet member for environment and culture, said they recorded all complaints and actions – the most serious on the day they are received.
"This would include issues such as pest infestations, food poisoning allegations, mouldy food or contaminated batches of food," he said.
"All other issues would be dealt with inside five working days and the vast majority result in a visit to the premises to investigate the complaint."
Stafford Borough Council spokeswoman Rachel Jenkins said that they investigated all complaints in accordance with the Food Safety Code of Practice while Oliver Wassall, Wolverhampton City Council environmental health manager, said they investigated all food hygiene complaints based on their merits.
Councillor Zahid Ali, portfolio holder for public protection in the Walsall Council coalition, said: "We work to protect the health of people who buy food by routinely inspecting premises and also responding quickly to concerns raised through complaints therefore ensuring that the highest standards of food safety are maintained.
"Where we can we will look to work with the owners to improve standards but we will always take more stringent action when this fails."
