Show says sorry to cafe

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The producers of consumer affairs TV programme Target have had to make an embarrassing apology after incorrectly saying an Auckland cafe's food had a high reading of faecal coliform.

The episode, which screened on TV3 on June 16, had an undercover camera segment which looked at hygiene standards at eight Auckland cafes. Food bought at the cafes was sent away and tested. One sample with a high reading of faecal coliform was mistakenly attributed to Cafe Cezanne in Ponsonby Rd.

However, serious breaches of procedure in storing the samples meant it was impossible to confirm which cafe produced the high count. The person responsible was sacked from Top Shelf Productions, which makes Target.

An apology to Cafe Cezanne ran in last night's episode of Target, to go with a personal apology given last weekend by Top Shelf executive producer Laurie Clarke.

"We have to admit we have made a mistake ... which is embarrassing. We are now in a situation where one of them [cafes] came up with this result and we don't know which one."

Lawyer Richard Fowler, of DLA Phillips Fox, said it could be possible for all eight cafes to take legal action against Top Shelf as long as an owner from each had been identified in the programme.

Any legal action would probably be for defamation, he said.

Jackie Wilkinson, of Cafe Cezanne, said the show had done huge amounts of damage. She was in talks with TV3 and Top Shelf Productions and could not say if legal action or compensation were on the cards. She and business partner Rod Williams only took over the cafe in November.

- © Fairfax NZ News