Trump International’s golf club in Scotland has lost its complaint against a newspaper, The Scotsman, which published an article about filthy conditions in the club’s kitchens that the real estate group said was “inaccurate and misleading.” 

The Scottish paper ran two articles critical of Trump International Golf Club Scotland Limited for food hygiene standards at its resort in Balmedie, Aberdeen, the ruling notes.

The first article, published in September, said that “Donald Trump’s inaugural property in Scotland has been told to make a raft of improvements by environmental health officials after an array of cleanliness and food safety issues saw the high-end hotel and golf resort fail to achieve a pass grade under a national food hygiene scheme.” 

The article reported that the resort had dirty “chopping boards and appliances, food handlers failing to wash their hands properly, and sausage meat found to be nearly three months out of date.” 

The same day, the Scotsman published a second, more opinionated article titled “Make Trump resort restaurant great again.”

It’s “probably fair to say that the failure of the Trump International Golf Links in Aberdeenshire to pass a food hygiene inspection is among the former US President’s lesser problems right now, given his current legal troubles,” that article read. “But it is, at least, rather ironic that the self-confessed germophobe’s business should have been ordered to make improvements by environmental health officials over cleanliness and food safety issues.” 

The second article, highly critical of President Trump, concluded with “as for the other diners, some might say one would have already needed to have a strong stomach to put money into the pockets of a man as morally repugnant as he is.”

Trump International, in a complaint to the United Kingdom’s largest independent press regulator, The Independent Press Standards Organisation, said the articles “had created a false narrative that the resort was currently operating an unsafe environment for consumers and that the problems were ongoing.”

The complaint also said that the resort had not failed any inspections, and instead, immediately resolved several improvements after an unannounced inspection of its golf clubhouse. After an inspection in 2023, Trump International said it received “a pass certificate” after addressing several minor issues. 

“Sadly, this false media coverage has created a hugely misleading and inaccurate impression of the high standards that are maintained at our resort in Aberdeenshire,” a representative of Trump International said in a statement after the articles were published. “We’ve instructed our lawyers to take action on this report and anyone who repeats it.”’

Trump International also said it had not been contacted for comment when the articles were published, but according to the ruling, the Scotsman said it had contacted the Trump organization through an email it had received a response from in the past. 

Ultimately, the Independent Press Standards Organisation ruled that it was “of the view that the publication had taken care over the accuracy of the article” and that it had corrected an error in it promptly, concluding that the “complaint was not upheld.”