SAFER COMMUNITIES DIRECTORATE ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH & TRADING STANDARDS FOOD SAFETY LAW ENFORCEMENT PLAN

Transcription

1 Appendix C SAFER COMMUNITIES DIRECTORATE ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH & TRADING STANDARDS FOOD SAFETY LAW ENFORCEMENT PLAN

2 Executive Summary All local authorities are required to produce a Food Law Enforcement Plan which sets out the measures the authority will take to safeguard food safety during the forthcoming financial year. The Food Law Enforcement Plan details the key objectives for the Commercial Food Safety Team within Environmental Health and Trading Standards (EHTS). The plan has been written to ensure that the Council meet statutory responsibilities in a cost effective and responsible manner in accordance with its legal obligations required by the Foods Standards Agency (FSA) Framework Agreement on Local Authority Food Law Enforcement. The plan supports the National and Council objectives and focuses on improving food safety and food standards of the food manufactured, packaged and sold within the Borough including imported foods. This Plan will be submitted to the relevant member forum for approval to ensure transparency and accountability. NATIONAL AND CORPORATE OBJECTIVES The service aims to build on the national and corporate objectives of enabling stronger, sustainable, safer and healthier communities. 1.0 FOOD SAFETY SERVICE AIMS AND OBJECTIVES The primary aim of the Council is to ensure that we play our role to enhance the quality of life and make a positive difference to the people of Ealing and for its visitors. EHTS aims to promote a fair and safe trading environment by using its expertise to provide information and guidance to local residents and businesses and ultimately using statutory powers to ensure compliance. To ensure that any food purchased or produced in the borough is safe for consumption. To carry out enforcement responsibilities as laid down in the Corporate Enforcement Policy and the Enforcement Concordat adopted by the Council. Also to now have regard to the Regulators Compliance Code, which came into force on 6 April SERVICE DELIVERY The food safety service is provided by a dedicated team within the EHTS. We aim to work in partnership with local people, other agencies and businesses to protect consumers within the borough by ensuring that all foods manufactured, imported,stored,handled,distributed and consumed within the borough on a commercial basis, are safe, wholesome and meet compositional and labelling requirements. To achieve this aim the following objectives have been set for 2008/9 To comply with the Regulators Compliance Code; Written enforcement policy Planned enforcement activity Reactive and responsive enforcement Appropriate resources Consultation and satisfaction levels Maintain 100% high risk food safety inspection and target those due for alternative enforcement. 2

3 Maintain 100% of food standards inspections and identify premises for alternative enforcement. To monitor the safety of food on sale to the public, composition and accuracy of labelling of food, by means of a structured sampling programme. Continue to apply food safety controls to all meat, fish and dairy products manufacturers through the approval system. Provide rapid and appropriate responses to notifications of infectious diseases and outbreaks. Increase efficiency in data recording and retrieval through IT development. Continue to provide nationally recognised training courses for people who work in the food industry. Achieve greater self regulation by smaller businesses through targeted business support and in delivery of government target compliance through advice for businesses. Target resources on non compliant businesses through adopting alternative enforcement strategies for low risk compliant businesses. Continue to provide targeted inspections of Importers within the Borough to stop the illegal importation of prohibited foods. Align sampling programmes with Food Standards Agency (FSA) and Health Protection Agency (HPA) priorities for healthy living and choosing health. Continue to develop and strengthen partnerships with Community Leaders and the Asian Health Protection Agency To continue to improve the quality of the service through effective use and enhancement of staff skills and knowledge. Continue to raise the profile of the team and provide improved access for customers. Review existing guidance in relation to our quality system to ensure we deliver the service we provide in accordance with quality management principles. 3.0 PROFILE OF LONDON BOROUGH OF EALING Situated in West London, Ealing covers an area of 55 square kilometres and borders onto Brent, Harrow, Hillingdon and Hammersmith & Fulham. Three underground, and several mainline train services, giving good access to central and East London serve its seven town centres. With an increasing population of 300,948 living in over 118,000 households the majority are aged between 25-44years and 41.3% of the total population is from nonwhite ethnic groups. 3.1 Political Structure The Council operates under a Cabinet and Leader system. This means that its decision-making committee is the Cabinet and is chaired by the Leader of the Council who is elected annually. 3.2 Resources The budget for the Food Safety, Health and Safety and Licensing teams last year was 619,522. The service was delivered within budget. The budget for is 615, Quality Assessment The team aims to continually improve the level of service provided and procedures are reviewed where necessary to incorporate identified improvements. Customer satisfaction surveys will be carried out. The feedback will be analysed and comments taken on board where appropriate. 3

4 The section is working towards producing a comprehensive range of procedures to promote consistency between officers, including internal monitoring of officer work. 3.4 The Food Safety Team A dedicated team within Commercial Team, Environmental Health and Trading Standars provides the Food Safety Service. Food Safety, within Environmental Health, also enforces occupational health and safety. Essentially the Food Safety Service undertakes occupational health and safety inspections and enforcement in food premises, non-food premises, dedicated special treatment premises and residential care homes, The Service Manager manages the team of Senior Environmental Health Officers, Environmental Health Officers Enforcement Officers and Technical Administrative Support Officers, trainee Environmental Health Officers. All staff are authorised in line with their qualifications and experience and in accordance with the FSA Code of Practice. Each member of the Team participates in the Job Performance Scheme (JPS), which sets individual objectives to contribute towards achieving the overall Team objectives and is directly linked to the Corporate Plan. The JPS also identifies any training needs and an agreed annual training plan is then drawn up for individuals, which is reviewed after 6 months to monitor the progression of the objectives set. The Authority aims to appoint a sufficient number of authorised officers to carry out the work set out in the Service Delivery Plan and they will have suitable qualifications, training and experience consistent with their authorisation and duties. The Enforcement Officers spend 60% of their time on completing the food safety inspection programme and 40% on the health and safety inspection programme. Two trainee EHO s working under close supervision are involved in projects, routine medium and low risk inspections. Where are we? The Food Safety Team are based at the main council offices: Perceval House, 14/16 Uxbridge Road, Ealing W5 2HL Tel: The normal office hours are between 9.00 am-5.00 p.m. (except Bank holidays). For emergencies only, there is a 24hour standby service available on SCOPE OF THE FOOD SAFETY TEAM The Framework Agreement on Local Authority Food Law Enforcement sets the Standard for the delivery of local authority food law enforcement services including food hygiene, food standards and feeding stuffs legislation. The team is responsible for undertaking the following duties: Carrying out programmed food hygiene inspections of premises and revisiting where necessary to check compliance with legal requirements Carrying out programmed food standards inspections. Where breaches of the law are identified, taking the necessary informal or formal action to rectify the breach, including the seizure of foods, the immediate closure of premises and the prosecution of offenders. Highlighting any apparent health and safety breaches found whilst undertaking a food inspection. Investigation of food complaints and complaints about hygiene standards in food premises. Information, advice and guidance for local businesses to assist them in complying with their legal responsibilities for food safety and promote good practices. Investigation of food poisoning and food borne illnesses in partnership with the Consultant in Communicable Disease from the Health Protection Agency. Responding to national Food Alerts issued by the FSA concerning food contamination. Planned microbiological examination and chemical analysis of foods to check their compliance with safety, compositional and labelling laws Carrying out sampling of imported foods and feeding stuffs. Following the Home Authority Principle for those food businesses that are based in LB of Ealing. Approving premises that require formal approval under EU product specific legislation e.g. dairies, meat and fish products. Ealing has 56 EU approved establishments. Providing food safety advice to the public. 4

5 Providing training in food and health and safety in English and specific ethnic languages. The Council has additional food related responsibilities under the European communities Act 1972 in respect of products of animal Origin imports and exports. Issuing food export certificates Health promotion initiatives. To support the services provided directly by the Council, specialist services are provided by the following: 1. Nominated Food Examiners at the Health Protection Agency, Food, Water and Environment Microbiology Unit, Central Public Health Laboratories, Colindale, London NW9 5HT 2. Nominated Public analysts and Agricultural Analysts at Euorfins Scientific, 445 New Cross Road, London. SE14 6TA. 3. Proper Officer ( under the Public Health (Control of Diseases) Act 1984) at the North West London Health Protection Unit. 61 Colindale Avenue, London. NW9 5EQ 4.1 Demands on the Food Service Each local Authority will have different demands which impact on the delivery of the food safety service and within Ealing these include: Ensuring that the statutory inspections targets are met in respect of such a large number of food premises, of which there are 56 approved premises under EU product specific regulations. Ensuring that an equitable service is delivered in a multi-cultural Borough so that information on food hygiene training and advice is accessible to all food traders. There are over 45 ethnic cuisines served in the borough, which adds to the diverse demands made on the service in relation to cultural distinction, training needs and language barriers. These areas are successfully addressed by a workforce that has a commitment to equality and diversity as well as a staff mix which is representative of the communities we serve. Dealing with a high turnover of food businesses and proprietors within the borough and maintaining an accurate database so ensure that all food premises are inspected. 5.0 FOOD SAFETY SERVICE DELIVERY The aim of the Service is to protect public health and enhance food safety within the Borough. It is the responsibility of the team to ensure that food and drink produced and sold within the Borough is safe and fit to eat as far as is reasonably possible. 5.1 Key Priorities Each year key priorities are regularly reviewed by the Service Manager and checks made to confirm that they are being achieved. The final results are reported annually to Corporate Board and any variations from the priorities are highlighted and a reason given for the variance. The priorities for the year are detailed below. 1. Making Ealing a healthier and safer place to live. Complete 100% of all planned high and medium risk food hygiene inspections and a minimum of 30% low risk inspections. 5

6 2. Complete 100% high-risk food standards inspections and contribute to the wider public health agenda through the promotion of healthier eating options. 3. To check the effectiveness of food safety management within local food businesses through the sampling of high-risk foods. 4. Ensuring that the service is cost effective, cross cutting and delivered in line with national, regional and local priorities. Continue to support the London-wide Scores on the Doors initiative. All 33 London Boroughs are involved and will provide consistent information on food premises for the purposes of fulfilling its responsibilities under the Freedom of Information Act. 5. Provide an efficient and effective customer centric service. To increase and improve service procedures to promote consistency between officers, provide clear working instructions and incorporate best practice 6. To raise awareness of food safety issues to local food businesses and/or residents and in particular, within the ethnic community. 7. To respond to customer complaints and requests for service within the target response time and in particular, infectious disease notifications and food poisoning outbreaks. 8. Review the Borough database for food businesses to ensure all food businesses are registered with the Local Authority. 9. Encouraging the use of partnership arrangements to enhance service delivery. To continue to offer training to food handlers in partnership with Thames Valley University to provide in-house training in other languages e.g. Punjabi, Hindi and Somali and to refer food handlers to food hygiene trainers who have expertise in their own ethnic language. 10. To adhere to the Home Authority Principle and provide advice to businesses on legal compliance where the LBE act as the home or originating authority. 11. To work with businesses to help them to comply with the law by offering advice, information, running training courses, and responding to requests for assistance 5.2 Food Premises Inspections Routine programmed food hygiene inspections are carried out on a risk rating system in accordance with the Food Standards Agency Code of Practice. The number of planned programme inspections for this year is: Food hygiene inspections 824 Food standards inspections 274 and the premises are broken down as follows: RISK CATEGORY NUMBER OF PLANNED PROGRAMMED PRIMARY INSPECTIONS FOR A (every 6 months) 100% 61 B (every year) 100% 267 C (every 18 months) 100% 496 D/E Min 30% Total Following an inspection by an authorised officer, the risk-rated scores are entered into a database, which generates the next inspection date. The officer leaves a hand written report at the time the premises inspection is carried out, outlining any contraventions or recommendations. If there are more than a few minor points on the report, a formal letter is also sent, clearly stating legal requirements and recommendations. Revisits are made to premises requiring additional surveillance. 6

7 Formal action will be taken, in line with the EHTS Enforcement Policy, including the serving of Improvement Notices, Emergency Prohibition Notices, detention/seizure of food, the issuing of Simple Cautions and the instigation of prosecutions where contraventions are established. Each officer has been allocated a monthly target of inspections according to their experience and qualifications, which governs their authorisation status. 5.3 Food Complaints The authority will investigate all food complaints or complaints relating to the hygiene of food premises in accordance with the Code of Practice, centrally issued guidance and its own Food Complaints Procedures. All food complaints involving an imminent risk to health will be responded to as soon as possible and all other in accordance with the Councils procedure. Enforcement of food safety is undertaken in accordance with the Food Safety Act 1990 and associated legislation and the Food Law Code of Practice. Decisions shall be made in accordance with the Councils Corporate Enforcement Policy. Statutory action may only be taken with the agreement of the Head of Environmental Health and Trading Standards. The number of food complaints and complaints relating to poor hygiene of premises investigated in 2007/8 was 250.These are often complex investigations involving other Local Authorities, national companies and importers when food has originated from outside the UK. It is estimated that a similar number of complaints will require investigation in 2008/ Home Authority Principle We recognise the value of the Home Authority Principle in securing and improving food hygiene and food standards practices. Where a head office for a food business is located within an authority s area, the authority has adopted the Home Authority Principle. This entails the authority working closely with the business to establish procedures to ensure good hygiene standards are maintained and the production of safe food. This is quite a resource intensive exercise as additional meetings are required in order to properly advise both the business and other local authorities. The Authority becomes a nationally recognised point of contact and liaison for all subsequent food complaints. The authority has one formal and one informal agreement. In addition, Ealing is the originating authority for approximately 70 food manufacturers, whereby the Home Authority principles are applied, although formal partnerships have not been established with these companies. 5.5 Advice to Businesses We give assistance to local food businesses on food matters when requested, to help them to comply with the law and to encourage the use of best practice. This is achieved through a range of activities including: Advice given during inspections of and other visits to businesses Responding to queries Advisory visits Provision of advice relating to planning applications Advisory leaflets in a range of community languages A food business starter pack Seminars; Targeted mail shots Fortnightly Radio programme direct to the Asian community We will continue to expand on the work currently being undertaken with working with the Leaders of various religious organisations to provide advice on food safety and food standards. 5.6 Feeding Stuffs The Feed (Hygiene and Enforcement) Regulations 2005 expanded those requiring approval/registration to include those transporting and storing animal feed. At present there are no businesses in Ealing which these regulations apply to, however we will continue to monitor and ensure that inspections and sampling is undertaken in line with FSA priorities set out in ENF/E/05/052/AFS/ Food Sampling 7

8 The team links into the North West London Food Safety Local Liaison Group s annual sampling programme in partnership with the Food Standards Agency, Health Protection Agency and the Public Analyst. The programme will include surveys of high risk foods manufactured or sold in Ealing to ensure that they meet regulatory standards in terms of microbiological safety, labelling, composition and quality and are accurately described, giving consumers accurate information when purchasing food products, as well as surveys related to healthy eating including the determination of the fat, salt and sugar content of foods. Ealing s additional sampling programme for Imported foods will continue, to establish the effectiveness of the management of food safety in local businesses. The Health Protection Agency at Collindale undertakes microbiological examination. Currently each authority is allocated a sample quota and thus there is no resource requirement for this initiative. The EO s carry out most of the sampling with the assistance of the other officers as required. Eurofins Laboratories undertake chemical analysis and insect identification samples are sent to the Natural History Museum (London) or Cambridge Entomology Centre. Only a small percentage of food complaints are analysed and submitted for analysis. This is due to the fact that the complainant has usually not maintained the continuity of evidence and thus, it would be difficult to take formal action. 5.8 Imported foods This Authority is an inland authority and actively seeks food premises who are importing foods. We have operational procedures for dealing with imported foods and are undertaking inspections, giving advice, carrying out formal and informal sampling and where necessary taking enforcement action. 5.9 Control and Investigation of Outbreaks and Food Related Disease The Team aims to respond to notifications of outbreaks of food poisoning and food borne illness within 24 hours. All other notifications will be investigated as soon as practically possible. Officers work closely with the Consultant in Communicable Diseases Control (CCDC), Public Health Doctors and nurses to protect the public health of people who live and work in or visit the borough. The potential source of the food poisoning or food borne illness will be investigated and can involve the collection of relevant information from the infected person(s), inspection of food businesses and the collection of food and faecal samples where necessary. It is often very difficult to establish the exact source of contamination because of the number of variables involved. However, appropriate action will be taken to reduce the likelihood of a recurrence where an apparent source can be identified. Under a local agreement all notifications of infectious diseases are made to the Consultant in Communicable Disease Control (CCDC) at the Health Protection Agency (HPA). The team is notified by the CCDC, which case is in need of investigation and officers are deployed to deal with the gathering of information and inspection of food businesses. We are currently working in partnership with the CCDC, PCT, Emergency Services and LBE Planning Officers to develop a joint outbreak infectious disease control plan and emergency action plan for Bird Flu. Enforcement Policy Environmental Health and Trading Standards Service Enforcement Policy have regard to the Corporate Enforcement Policy, which was formally adopted by the Authority and is based on the Government s Concordat of Good Enforcement. The Policy clearly sets out when the Authority will take formal action against businesses for suspected offences. The foundations of the policy are built on lawfulness, fairness, transparency and that any action taken is proportional to the risk. In considering any action that may need to be taken, the previous history of compliance will be taken into account and the resulting action taken by the proprietor of a business to rectify the matters highlighted. A copy of the Policy is available on request from this Authority and is also on the Council s website. In addition this service will now have regard to the Regulators Compliance Code, which came into force on 6 April

9 5.10 Liaison and partnership working with Other Organisations The team works closely in partnership with ethnic communities, enforcement and professional agencies, internal and external working groups and with other teams in the service. The Service Manager for Food Safety attends the North West London Food Safety Local Liaison Group, which meets approximately every 8 weeks. The group is also attended by the Health Protection Agency and our Public Analyst which serves to promote consistency and good practice between authorities. Advice is sought from the FSA and the Local Authorities Co-ordinators of Regulatory Services (LACORS) when a food safety query cannot be resolved within the Authority or the Sub-Group. The Team is consulted on all planning and licensing/event applications involving food businesses. Any newly identified businesses are added to the departmental database and advice is sent out regarding general food law requirements Health Promotion and Education Initiatives The service promotes awareness within the food trade and the local community through a variety of means including: Local and national media Advisory information; Provision of advisory leaflets in English and other local community languages; Participation in Area Consultation Meetings; Developing partnerships with the local religious leaders. Working in partnership with the PCT to implement a smoking cessation project, that targets food handlers. This will also help to reduce the risk of cross contamination from smoking related poor hygiene practices and assist in achieving the objectives in our Health Matters strategy. Continue to provide food hygiene courses in English in partnership with Thames Valley University in order to promote food hygiene awareness and thus safer food. Outreach courses can be presented in Hindi, Punjabi and Somali on or off site. The food safety team is continuing its work on the Asian Project to provide information and advice to smaller Asian businesses and is part of the London wide partnership with the London Food Study Group. We will continue to provide seminars and training to the community on health eating, five- a -day and nutritional and allergy awareness. During National Food Safety Week we will concentrate on raising awareness of food safety amongst school children. 9

10 REVIEW OF FOOD LAW ENFORCEMENT FOOD STATISTICS The target response time for food complaints is four days, with serious complaints and food poisoning incidents being responded to as soon as possible i.e. same day. FOOD STATISTICS Food Complaints 250 Food Alerts 98 Food Home Authority Referral 212 Food Hygiene Courses 18 Food Hygiene Inspections 833 Food Infectious Disease Investigations 32 Food Premises Complaints 332 Food Sampling 102 Food Standards Inspections 412 Anonymous complaints are treated with caution and it is at the discretion of the Authority as to whether an investigation will ensue. Complainant s details will remain confidential unless formal action is deemed necessary. Prior to any information being released, the complainant will be informed and permission sought. Where the action needed to be taken is considered to be in the public interest, personal details may still have to be released. Food Alerts Food Alerts are issued by the Foods Standards Agency (FSA) to all Food Authorities in the country when a national food safety issue has arisen with a specific food product. Food alerts are responded to as directed by the warning notification received from the FSA and in accordance with the Code of Practice. All warnings and the subsequent action taken is recorded and retained on file. 98 Food Alerts were received and investigated in Enforcement Action Taken ( ) Last year eight food premises were the subject of voluntary closures. All premises inspected are left with a summary of the inspection and those that require significant remedial action are revisited to ensure compliance. In the team achieved 833 food safety inspections and 412 food standards inspections, which included 100% of A, B and C categories including all EU approved premises. Increased inspection and the use of voluntary closure produced a significant drop in the number of food complaints in 07/08. Recruitment of staff remains the biggest issue for the service and will be addressed by a restructuring in 2008/2009 in accordance with the 2005/2006-business design process. Innovative ways of providing training will provide selffunding courses to staff and tailored food hygiene courses to our business community, which ensures that we work towards a value for money service. 10