THE owner of an American diner in the city centre has called the business's two-star food hygiene 'really unfair' and a 'misrepresentation'.

Glut received the rating, which means standards were judged to need improvement, when Oxford City Council’s health team visited in September.

Issues raised included a lack of proper allergen information and concerns over the ‘inadequate and inconsistent’ method for cooking burgers.

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Former Cherwell School pupil Sami Mahfouz launched Glut in May and has won praise for dishes including a vegan plant burger and buffalo wings.

He said: “I would urge anyone concerned to read the report, as there was no concern of hygiene or cleanliness as we keep our kitchen sparkling clean at all times, our hygiene was rated very good."

Oxford Mail:

Mr Mahfouz said he had made a 'silly mistake' of not noting wheat as an allergen on the pancakes, adding: "They also said we couldn’t guarantee every beef burger would be cooked to 75C so they wanted us to create a burger cooking system to ensure they are guaranteed to be cooked to 75 C, which we have done."

He said the report mentioned empty oil drums kept in the restaurant's bin store could be a fire hazard but he called the fire service and they visited and assured him it was 'completely safe'

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The business owner said he thought awarding just two stars was 'really unfair' as it was a 'misrepresentation' and was only given based on 'legislation and paperwork'.

Inspectors visited the George Street business on September 19.

Oxford Mail:

A report produced following the assessment said inspectors had found issues with burgers and a ‘pink’ burger mentioned on the menu needed to be reviewed

The document went on to describe the procedure to cook burgers as ‘inadequate and inconsistent’ explaining: “Both burgers cooked during the inspection reach different temperatures.”

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Allergen information was also described as ‘inadequate’, the report explaining about a pancake mix: “Milk, soya and wheat listed in bold on the ingredient list of dried foods was not declared on the allergen matrix for customers."

There were also concerns over what was being stored in an electrical cupboard at the restaurant, the report stating: “Accumulations of refuse sacks, oil drums and cardboard were stored in the electrical cupboard and in the adjoining area where the boiler is location.

"The storage of waste materials in these areas is extremely dangerous owing to the risk of fire.”

Glut is rated 11 out of 491 Oxford restaurants on TripAdvisor.