Sandwiches and salads are being carted into Aberdeen Royal Infirmary after inspectors raised concerns about some of the flagship hospital’s hygiene standards.
Enforcement action was taken after an unannounced visit to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary in September revealed “a number of concerns”.
City council environmental health officers issued a “risk mediation notice” over the failings and recommended immediate action.
NHS Grampian – which has not revealed the nature of the issue – said it was confident measures since put in place “mitigate any risk of illness”.
It has tasked an incident management team with investigating whether the problems “may have been associated with food-borne illness”.
In the meantime, cold ready-to-eat food, such as salads and sandwiches are currently being made at Royal Cornhill Hospital’s kitchen and then transported to ARI.
A spokeswoman for the health board said: “Environmental health raised concerns about the preparation of cold ready to eat food – e.g. salads, sandwiches – in the Aberdeen Royal Infirmary (ARI) kitchen.
“While these issues are being resolved these items are being prepared at our Royal Cornhill Hospital kitchen.
“The kitchen at ARI has not been closed and all other food preparation continues there as normal.
“This kitchen provides meals to ARI and Royal Aberdeen Children’s Hospital.
“We ask patients and staff there to bear with us while we work with environmental health to resolve these issues to everyone’s satisfaction.”
Other hospital kitchens in the region “are not affected and continue to produce a full range of food”, she said.
“Our catering outlets including the Cairngorm Cafe and Aroma Coffee are also not affected and continue to carry a full menu.
“The incident management team are content that the current control measures in place mitigate any risk of illness.”
An Aberdeen City Council spokeswoman said: “During an unannounced visit to the kitchens at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary on September 8 2016, officers had some concerns about
hygiene practices that they observed.
“The Environmental Health Service took enforcement action with the intention of ensuring there was no continuing risk to consumers, and also provided compliance advice to NHS Grampian.
“NHS Grampian took immediate action to remove the risks and have cooperated with the environmental health team in addressing their concerns.
“Further details, including correspondence, cannot be released during ongoing enforcement action.”
