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
