Lister

Af Linda Hansen
Translated by Maria Lillegaard Hansen

Michael Larsen is an important person at Roskilde Festival. He is supervisor at Department of Foods in Rødovre near Copenhagen and controls the food stands. Said in other words: he is the one that makes safe that your festival dinner does not end with stomach cramps, vomiting and the runs.
Michael says that the sun and the heat are this year’s biggest challenges.
“It is very difficult to cool down large portions fast enough. But in general, things are under control down here”, he says.
Two years ago the problems were quite different.
“Several of the stands continued cooking food, even though they were walking around in 30 centimetres of water”, Michael says.
Ankle high water filled with bacteria is a no-go, so those stands were closed immediately.

Well-done and cooled down
Several things can threaten the well-being of your stomach when it comes to food hygiene: meat that is not well-done, warm food that has not been cooled down fast enough or the chefs forgetting to watch their hands. But actually it is easy to choose food that is both delicious and harmless, Michael explains.
Keep an eye on the control reports. If there is a big smiley, you can calmly enjoy a meal there. If the smiley does not smile so much, you can read why and decide for yourself if you want to eat there.

No smiley, no deal
This year, Michael’s colleagues have closed one food stand so far. It was a pizza stand outside the festival. The food expert advices:
“If there is no visible control report, do not eat there”.