TV3 consumer affairs show Target issued an apology last week after an element of one of it's café hygiene segments contained an error.The June 16 episode of Target stated that a high level of faecal coliform was found in the chicken at Ponsonby's Café Cezanne. Further investigation by the shows producers found an error in the way an employee had coded the samples from each of the café's featured in the segment. This therefore means that Top Shelf Productions was unable to confirm which café actually had the high reading of faecal coliform in their food.
Top Shelf Productions is said to have fired the employee responsible, saying the error was "completely unacceptable".
Café Cezanne owners Rod Williams and Jackie Wilkinson say they have taken legal advice on the issue as they have experienced a large drop in customer numbers since the episode was broadcast on TV3.
"Sometimes we hear people walking past and saying 'That was the dirty place on Target'. It's horrible," said Wilkinson.
Target producer Laurie Clarke admits the mistake was embarrassing for them, but is satisfied it was completely down to the error of the now former employee.
While we do know that a mistake was made with the coding of the samples, one of the café's featured in the episode of Target - including Café Cezanne - still did produce the high reading of faecal coliform, there is just now no way to confirm which of them it was.
Perhaps Target should re-test each of the café's to confirm their levels of hygiene once and for all.
