food & safety unit enforcing food legislation

FOOD & SAFETY UNIT

Enforcing food legislation

City of York

• Population - ~195,000

• 7.1 million visitors to York

• £443 million contribution to economy

• Greatest spend – food and drink

• Supports 22,000 + jobs

• York placed fifth in European good food destinations

City of York

Food & Safety Unit

• Food Safety

• Food Standards

• Animal Feed

• Public Health

• Health and Safety

Premises

• 1,900+ food premises

• Mostly catering premises

• History as chocolate city

Staff

Planning interventions

Interventions

Official controls• inspections• monitoring• surveillance• verification• audit; and• sampling

Not official controls• education, advice and coaching• information and intelligence gathering

Inspections

Preparation• Clothing/equipment• Review of the information held on the premises

On site• Explain purpose of inspection• Establish if any changes• Identify all food related activities• Question appropriate staff

Inspections (2)

Areas covered

• Assess risk of not meeting food hygiene requirements

• Assess hazards and if controlled

• Is food handled and produced hygienically?

• Assess and verify HACCP

Post inspection

• Report of inspection

• Cover contraventions

• Split legal requirements/ recommendations

• Follow up – various approaches

Approach to enforcement

• Food Law Enforcement Policy

• History of the premises

• Attitude of the business

• Seriousness of the offences

• Reasonable, proportionate, risk based and consistent.

• Graduated and educative

Securing compliance

Informal approaches

• education

• coaching

• giving advice

Securing compliance

Formal approaches

• Hygiene Improvement Notice

• Emergency Prohibitions

• Seize or detain food

• Remedial Action Notices

Hygiene Improvement Notice

• proportionate to the public health risk

• record of non-compliance

• informal approach won’t be successful

Emergency Prohibition Notice

• Use where there is a health risk condition

Emergency Prohibition Notice

• Immediately close premises, use of equipment

or process/treatment.

•Apply to Magistrates’ Court to issue an order

• FBO can request lifting of an order

- issue certificate HRC removed; or

- explain what HRC still exists

• Also prohibit FBO from running food business

Prosecution

Factors for prosecution

• seriousness of the offence

• prevalence of the type of offence

• history of premises

Factors against

• nominal penalty

• genuine mistake

Prosecution – outcomes

Magistrate’s court

• fine – max £5,000 per offence

• prohibition order

Crown court

• unlimited fine

• imprisonment

Example case

Example case

Example case

Example case

Example case

Example case

Example case

Example case

Outcome of court case

Business

• £1000 unfit food

• £500 other offences

• £789.45 legal costs

Owner

• £100 per offence

• £600 legal costs

...and some bad publicity!

Quality control

• BS 9001 accredited service

• Inter authority audits

• External audits from certifying body

• Annual report to Chief EHOs

FSA involvement

• Local Authority Enforcement Monitoring

FSA involvement

• Local Authority Enforcement Monitoring system• Audit local authorities• Issue guidance on the back of audit findings

FSA involvement

• Local Authority Enforcement Monitoring

• Audit local authorities

FSA involvement

• Local Authority Enforcement Monitoring

• Audit local authorities

• Issue guidance on audit findings

Food Hygiene Rating Schemes

• Rating based hygiene standards

• Improved transparency

• Easy to access information

• Encourages businesses to improve

• Media interest

Broadly compliant premises

• Shift from input to outcomes

• Tackling the worst premises

• National performance indicator

• Prioritised inspections

• Revisits – coaching/advice/encouragement

• Graduated and educative approach (CoP)

Future issues