Cruise Ship Owner Takes Steps Following CDC Inspection Failure

A CDC team found trolleys and food hidden from them in crew cabins when they inspected the cruise liner 'Silver Shadow'.

The incident resulted in the ship receiving an unsatisfactory score from the CDC Vessel Sanitation Program inspectors.

The government report states that CDC inspectors boarded the Silver Shadow during an unannounced inspection last month and found a number of violations, including an organized effort to hide more than 15 full trolleys of cooked foods, milk, raw meats, pasteurized eggs, cheeses of all types, baking goods, raw fruits, raw vegetables, as well as pans, dishware and utensils in crew member cabins in order to avoid inspection by VSP staff.

Silversea Cruises subsequently issued a statement, with extracts as follows:

"At Silversea Cruises we pride ourselves on providing the best quality services to our guests. Since the preliminary report was given to us, a full investigation has been carried out into the circumstances which led to this unsatisfactory result and a number of steps have been taken to ensure that the standards of food hygiene, in particular, are of the highest order. The other issues contained in the report have been rigorously dealt with as well.

Our investigation has included the involvement of an external sanitation consultant travelling on board the ship and our own managers working through every aspect of the USPHS report to ensure full compliance.

The unannounced inspection on June 17 occurred at the end of the breakfast period where pots, pans and utensils were on working stations and items to return to the galleys were on trolleys as were stores from the fridges ready for use.

It is clear that when the galley staff heard that inspectors were on board, instead of continuing their work in the understanding that they were in the middle of a meal service, they tried to quickly remove all trolleys and any items not in the fridges and place them in cabins out of the way. It goes without saying that such practices are against company policy and should not have happened.

We would also like to make clear that following the inspection of Silver Shadow, all food found in the cabins was destroyed and under no circumstances was improperly stored food served to any guests."