listeria bacteria

Food hygiene

report

leaves a

nasty taste!

A couple of hundred years ago, a cockroach in your mulligatawny might have been seen as something of a bonus – but those days are now long gone.
Instead, we have seen apparently stringent checks on what we eat, and how it is stored, prepared and served – but that could be set to change if a report to today’s Environment and Performance committee of Boston Borough Council is accepted.
Apparently, Boston has the most diverse range of food businesses of all local authorities in Lincolnshire - with a significant number of specialist food operations which require regular monitoring as well as enforcement of port health legislation, including the inspection of ships and imported foods.
But it seems that after all these years, we’ve been putting the cart before the horse in some cases - in that the council has focussed on the number of inspections - rather than driving the ‘purpose’ of food safety - which is to ensure that hygiene standards improve.
Sometimes this has meant that follow-up action was overlooked - with the result that standards in some cases deteriorated rather than improved. It was also noted that an increasing number of businesses, for one reason or another, change food business operator on a frequent basis.
The bottom line is that when businesses were prosecuted or cautioned they were more likely to toe the line than if they got a pat on the wrist – which against seems something of a statement of the obvious.
One thing that we are pleased to see is a review of the borough’s food safety award schemes which appears on its website here.
These are purportedly “backed” by the Boston Standard – although we doubt whether they know that at the paper.
The scheme offers three awards – gold, silver and bronze – with fewer than twenty food outlets getting a gold award.
But according to the list, some of the places inspected received their award two years ago which makes the whole exercise rather pointless.
Not only that, but there is also a fourth category, which gives no award at all because of “unacceptable standards of hygiene and management.”
This then begs the question of why those nine nominees are still operating, and the only explanation seems to be that the borough judges them at two separate levels – a local one where the unacceptable is acceptable, and a national one where such premises are closed down.
It was found that the three tier award scheme did not encourage businesses to improve. Most were rated as bronze, and feedback revealed that it wasn’t worth trying to achieve a higher level, as it was felt that no increase in trade would result.
Another rather pointless feature of a list designed to tell the public where they can eat safely is the inclusion of a number of care homes, where one is scarcely likely to pop in for a snack – and even the Department of Psychiatry at Pilgrim Hospital, which gets a silver award. And certainly not Ingelow Manor – which has been closed.
Under new plans, the newly-launched Food Standards Agency national food hygiene rating scheme which has six levels of compliance from “good” to “urgent improvement necessary” may be adopted instead.
Clearly the need for a shake-up is long overdue.
The report says that due to pressures on resources, food sampling has only been carried out three times this year – whereas in previous years it was done fortnightly.
The Food Standards Authority has said that sampling of imported foods should be a priority and they are obviously right, as it has revealed some very worrying trends including the identification of low level listeria monocytogenes in cooked meats.
“Given that nationally the number of cases of listeria has doubled in recent years and the fact that one in three vulnerable people who contract the infection die, the council’s approach to food sampling should be reinforced as per the recommendations,” says the report.
It also adds that some Eastern European businesses in Boston appear not to understand UK food and health and safety laws - despite robust legislation being in place throughout Europe. As a result, officers have had to resort to prosecutions and formal cautions.
Historically, officers served around five formal food and health and safety notices a year - but so far this year more than 40 have been served.
If it’s true that “you are what you eat” – then be afraid, be very afraid*.

*appropriately, a line from the 1986 horror film The Fly.

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