{"id":5616,"date":"2024-07-30T02:57:40","date_gmt":"2024-07-30T02:57:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/delays-in-food-hygiene-inspections-serious-public-health-issue\/"},"modified":"2024-07-30T02:57:40","modified_gmt":"2024-07-30T02:57:40","slug":"delays-in-food-hygiene-inspections-serious-public-health-issue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/delays-in-food-hygiene-inspections-serious-public-health-issue\/","title":{"rendered":"Delays in food hygiene inspections ‘serious public health issue’"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Consumers are being exposed to an increased risk of food poisoning because of delays in food hygiene inspections, a BBC investigation has found.<\/p>\n

Analysis shows one in five restaurants and takeaways had not been seen by food inspectors for more than two years.<\/p>\n

Environmental health teams say a recruitment crisis and a backlog from the pandemic are behind the trend.<\/p>\n

The public services union Unison said it was a “serious public health issue”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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A spokesman said: \u201cInspections are now so delayed that it\u2019s perfectly possible for food businesses with shoddy hygiene practices to operate with little fear of ever being caught.\u201d<\/p>\n

The BBC’s findings come amid heightened food safety concerns following an E-coli outbreak in June<\/a> linked to contaminated products.<\/p>\n

Hospitality UK, which represents food and drink businesses, said three quarters of eateries gained the top hygiene rating score on their latest inspection.<\/p>\n

\u201cDespite the pressures the sector has faced in recent years, the safety of our customers remains non-negotiable,” a spokesman said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

‘Full of detritus’<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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\"StephSteph Holloway<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Steph Holloway and her partner both had food poisoning after eating out last year<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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With such a long time between inspections, even supposedly low-risk establishments can let standards slip, according to classic car blogger Steph Holloway.<\/p>\n

The 36-year-old from Huddersfield suffered from suspected food poisoning after eating out at a curry house in May 2023.<\/p>\n

Even though it had a five-star hygiene rating, she said it was immediately clear things had changed since the last time it was inspected more than two years previously.<\/p>\n

\u201cI walked in and I thought \u2018this isn\u2019t very clean\u2019,\u201d Steph said. \u201cWe just said, \u2018oh let\u2019s eat, it will be fine\u2019 – but it wasn\u2019t fine.”<\/p>\n

Steph and her boyfriend noticed the tray used to serve the poppadoms was extremely dirty.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was just full of detritus,” she said. “It looked like it had sat in someone’s cupboard for 10 years.”<\/p>\n

Steph also noticed black dirt on the door handles and a full mop bucket being used to prop a fire door open.<\/p>\n

Within hours, her and her boyfriend became ill and Steph remained in bed for the following two days.<\/p>\n

The couple complained about the restaurant, but the premises was not inspected again until September that year. <\/p>\n

It received a zero, the worst score a food outlet can receive.<\/p>\n

Inspectors found mouldy fruit in the fridge, poor cleaning practices and fruit flies around the kitchen. It was inspected again in April this year and currently has a three-star rating.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are being very careful about where we go,\u201d said Steph. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"StephSteph Holloway<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Photos taken from within the restaurant by Steph Holloway show thick grease coating the table<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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\"LocalLocal Democracy Reporting Service\/ Walsall Council<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\"LocalLocal Democracy Reporting Service\/Waltham Forest Council<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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A rat was found in the window of a Walsall takeaway<\/figcaption><\/p>\n

Grease covers the bottom of a work surface at a takeaway in London<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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‘Something different every day’<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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\"Nicola<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Hygiene inspector Nicola Carrington says many people her age are not aware of the profession<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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Cockroaches, rat droppings and mouldy food – the life of a hygiene inspector might not seem the most glamorous.<\/p>\n

But the body overseeing food safety is hoping to reverse a recruitment crisis that could be exposing customers to serious illness.<\/p>\n

Nicola Carrington, 24, is in the age range within which councils around the country are trying to attract new recruits.<\/p>\n

She works for the environmental health team at Salford City Council and loves her job. <\/p>\n

“I’ve been to businesses, which are really quite bad,” she said. “I\u2019ve been to one with a cockroach infestation. I think the businesses know there\u2019s an issue but what do they do about it?”<\/p>\n

Nicola studied chemistry, biology and physics at college before an environmental health degree at Liverpool John Moores University. Being an inspector is something she always wanted to do.<\/p>\n

“The majority of the time people are surprised when I walk in,” she said. “They say ‘you\u2019re a bit young aren\u2019t you’?<\/p>\n

“People just don’t know how to get into it. I just don\u2019t hear anyone speaking about it at college or at university.”<\/p>\n

But Nicola says it can be a really interesting and rewarding job.<\/p>\n

“You are doing something different each day, every food business owner is different. You get to meet so many different people, you dont know what you are going to expect.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

What do hygiene inspectors do?<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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Guidelines state most food premises in England, Wales and Northern Ireland should be inspected between six months and two years, depending on the level of risk.<\/p>\n

Some extremely low-risk businesses, such as pharmacists and greengrocers, can be inspected within three years.<\/p>\n

Council-employed teams rate premises on things like cleanliness, pest control and safe storage of food – giving a score between zero in the worst cases and five in the best cases.<\/p>\n

They also have the power to shut businesses down in extreme circumstances.<\/p>\n

The BBC’s analysis of more than 250,000 public records on the Food Standards Agency website has found more than 53,0000 had not been inspected since 2021. <\/p>\n

In Scotland, which runs a pass or fail food hygiene scheme, nearly 40% of businesses were last assessed more than two years ago.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

‘Very uncomfortable situation’<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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Food Standards Agency chief executive Emily Miles<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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Emily Miles, the chief executive of the Food Standards Agency, which oversees food hygiene inspections in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, said councils were generally getting through backlogs of high-risk inspections, which mounted during the Covid lockdowns. <\/p>\n

But she said the agency was concerned lower-risk venues and new venues were not being checked.<\/p>\n

A long-term decline in council food safety funding and a 15% drop in hygiene inspection staff over the past decade had left town halls struggling to assess businesses in time, she said.<\/p>\n

In April 2021, the backlog stood at 77,000 businesses awaiting an inspection in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, which is double the usual level. <\/p>\n

Recruitment, she said, was the biggest challenge. Currently, between one in seven and one in ten posts are unfilled.<\/p>\n

The agency has launched a national apprenticeship scheme and is considering lowering the skills criteria needed to enter the profession in order to boost numbers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s something that could be a slow burn to a very uncomfortable and unhelpful situation,” Ms Miles said.<\/p>\n

“If there are not enough people with the right skills in these local authority inspection roles – there just isn\u2019t that line of defence.”<\/p>\n

The agency’s research showed people were more at risk of E-coli, salmonella, norovirus and listeria in a premises that had received a three-out-of-five rating, rather than a five-out-of-five.<\/p>\n

The effects of a major outbreak, Ms Miles added, could be devastating.<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s not worth the pain and tragedy of the people who get sick and it\u2019s not worth the dent in our trust as a food nation,” she said.<\/p>\n

A spokesman for Food Standards Scotland said staffing levels were critically low because of “too few qualified officers to fill the existing posts”.<\/p>\n

The staffing deficit is currently estimated to be around 47% of the local authority need in Scotland, he added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

‘Significant challenges’<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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Phoebe Clay is director of Unchecked UK, a collection of organisations that campaign for better consumer regulation.<\/p>\n

She urged the new Labour government to boost funding to councils.<\/p>\n

“Relatively small investments would make the difference between having an inspection every two years to having one every six months,” she said.<\/p>\n

A spokesman for the department for Housing Communities and Local Government, which oversees the work of councils in the UK, said: \u201cWe will get local government back on its feet by doing the basics right.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will do this by providing councils with more stability through multi-year funding settlements, ending competitive bidding for pots of money and reforming the local audit system.\u201d<\/p>\n

A spokesman for the Scottish Government said Brexit and the introduction of new export processes had added extra workloads to the food hygiene teams at local authorities in the country.<\/p>\n

“We recognise the significant challenges councils face in continuing to deliver sustainable environmental health services in communities across Scotland.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

More about this story<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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The Shared Data Unit makes data journalism available to news organisations across the media industry, as part of a partnership between the BBC and the News Media Association.<\/p>\n

Read more about the Local News Partnerships here.<\/a> <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n


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