ECJ EUROPEAN Cleaning Journal

At least 31 Dutch restaurants with a Michelin star have been reprimanded by food safety inspectors since 2012, according to researchers at broadcasting group KRO-NCRV.

The researchers used freedom of information legislation to find out about the confidential inspection reports, says DutchNews.nl.Since 2012, 79 of the Netherlands' 106 restaurants with at least one Michelin star have been inspected in spot checks.

Thirty-one were given an official warning and 30 were given a completely clean bill of health, the broadcaster said. Among the problems found by health inspectors were dirty kitchens, rubbish on the floor, a storeroom full of leftover food and an ice machine full of mould. In one restaurant, loaves of bread had been eaten by mice.

A spokeswoman for the Dutch consumers association Consumentenbond called for the inspectors' reports to be made public. "It is absurd that inspectors know about a restaurant's standards of hygiene but that consumers have no idea," she said.