FSA hope to give you mandatory FHRS in England but what inspections will be cut or reduced?
In December 2021 the Food Standards Agency (FSA) published a survey about the Food Hygiene Ratings Scheme (FHRS) originally known as “Scores on the Doors”.
This survey in the link below indicates (on page 48) that 95% of those asked wanted to see mandatory ratings for food businesses displayed at their premises.
https://www.food.gov.uk/sites/default/files/media/document/FHRS%20Food%20and%20You%202%20Wave%202.pdf
Whilst we, like others such as The Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH), Unison, etc always wanted to see mandatory displays at food businesses, the FSA has had a minimum of 11 years since the launch of the FHRS in November 2010 and some would argue 13 years from original consultation on the Scores on the Doors in 2008 to achieve this.
It has been mandatory in Wales and Northern Ireland for several years now, yet England is being left out of step in relation to consumer food safety from this scheme.
This scheme in England, Wales & Northern Ireland, uses the following six rating.
0 – urgent improvement is required.
1 – major improvement is necessary.
2 – some improvement is necessary.
3 – hygiene standards are generally satisfactory.
4 – hygiene standards are good.
5 – hygiene standards are very good.
In Scotland they have their own Food Agency called Food Standards Scotland (FSS). They have they own system called the Food Hygiene Information Scheme which has three different ratings.
Pass means they meet the legal requirements for food hygiene.
Improvement Required means the business didn’t meet the legal requirements and needs to make improvements.
Exempt Premises means the business has been inspected by a local authority food safety officer, met the pass criteria, but don’t meet the criteria to be part of the scheme. These businesses are low-risk to people’s health in terms of food safety and you perhaps wouldn’t normally think of them as a food business – for example, newsagents, chemist shops or visitor centres selling tins of biscuits.
This scheme also as in England does not require mandatory ratings to be displayed, but as in England you can generally find the information through the FSS website.
The problem with website only access to these ratings schemes, is that it can disadvantage those who don’t have this access to it or those not familiar with this technology. Also, do most people check these ratings before a trip to the supermarket, restaurant, takeaway etc.
In this survey mentioned above it also states where consumers think these mandatory displays should also be displayed on business websites where they can clearly be seen before ordering food or maybe booking a hotel or B&B. The following results clearly indicate this.
Restaurant's or cafe's own website 96%
Takeaway's own website 96%
Food ordering/delivery companies' apps/websites 95%
Hotel's or B&B's own website 95%
Supermarket's own website 88%
Whilst we would welcome any mandatory food hygiene ratings scheme to allow the consumer to make an informed choice we do not believe that the FSA will be able to enforce this due to the fact that they struggle to meet their required targets in relation to carrying out food Hygiene inspections.
This is not the fault of Local authorities whose Environmental Health officers carry out these inspections, but due to a lack of resources and therefore staff.
This problem was happening prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, but instead of trying to rectify this problem the FSA now believe that food businesses can carry out some of these themselves or by using third party assurance, paid for by the food businesses themselves (effectively marking their own work) or by carrying out audits that are not carried out at the premises but are carried out remotely.
On 10th October 2019 a report by Unchecked, a none Government organisation (NGO) who are trying to bring about a fairer society by using the rules to ensure the safety of citizens and a level playing field for all, found the following:
11 percent of councils managed to carry out all their planned food checks on time, while eight local authorities missed more than 1,000 inspections of local food businesses.
More than 50,000 food hygiene inspections of rated premises were overdue in 2017-18.
The number of total overdue food hygiene checks in England, Northern Ireland and Wales stands at over 52,000 a year. This means that around one in seven planned hygiene checks of food premises are overdue. Link below to this research.
https://unchecked.uk/research/investigation-food-hygiene/
I believe Covid-19 pandemic will have made the above situation worse as is indicated by the FSA recovery plan in relation to this.
As you may be aware in 2018 it was estimated by the Government that there are 2.4 million cases of human foodborne illness cases each year in the UK and the cost was £9.1 Billion.
They also estimated that the average cost per case of foodborne illness was £4,000, that there were approximately 222,000 cases going to see their GP, approximately 16400 needed to be hospitalised due to severity of symptoms or vulnerability of sufferers (elderly and small children); and contributing to around 180 deaths.
Please keep sharing the Petition, as all food safety is important no matter what you choose to eat. This week an infant formula produced from Abbott Nutrition’s Sturgis, MI, facility in America was recalled in the UK, after it is believed it may contain Cronobacter and or Salmonella, has seen at least four children hospitalized. One death is being investigated by U.S. officials.
It now been reported the FSA are investigating three possible cases in the UK.
This is important as independent food safety checks and sampling in the UK are a useful check, not only on the food that we produce, but also on imported food, as it can help prevent foodborne illness.
Thank you for your continued help and support and stay safe.