President of the Canberra Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Chris Peters, came to the defence of Gus' Cafe in Civic and My Cafe at Manuka yesterday, saying the new laws for restaurants were being applied too harshly. ''They have been named and that's one penalty but now because of the timing they are also missing the long weekend which is another penalty,'' Dr Peters said.

The two cafes were given orders to close by the Health Protection Service on Friday afternoon, and under new laws that came into effect on March 2, forced to display signs in the windows explaining to their customers that they had been shut for breaching the Food ACT 2001. Dr Peters said both eateries had very good reputations and he believed that closing them was ''over the top''.

''These things are minor infractions and in the past they would have been given a notice and it would not have been publicly available information,'' he said.

''I think we have the balance wrong with the way the new regulations are being enforced.''

Paul Dugdale, chief health officer on duty for ACT Health yesterday, said the two cafes had been closed for having premises that were unclean, failing to maintain temperature control for critical food items and because the ability to clean hands had been ''compromised'' on multiple occasions during the inspections.

Dr Dugdale said he would not give any further specific details about why the orders were made.

''We assessed them as being a clear risk to the public health,'' he said.

Dr Dugdale said he anticipated the cafes would reopen without further problems.

''We expect that they will take heed of the notice and they will be back open and there will be no further problems,'' he said.

''These are common issues in commercial kitchens. It's nothing out of the ordinary, these are common problems.''

The owners of My Cafe declined to comment yesterday and owners of Gus' Cafe were unable to be contacted.