Food Safety Annual Plan
All Councils produce an annual Food
Safety Service Plan that outlines what they are doing to ensure
food safety. Each year a report is submitted to the Executive of
the Council on the past years performance and plans for the
future.
Download the Food
Safety Report 107Kb PDF
The information
is summarised below:
Activity over 2007/08
We completed 99.24% of our food safety
inspection programme, involving a total of 396 inspections. An
additional 192 food safety inspections were undertaken to premises
not in the programme as of the 1 April 2007. These include new
businesses inspections and those subject to complaint.
The food service investigated 186
complaints about unsatisfactory food / food premises and dealt with
around 163 statutory reported infectious diseases that were
considered potentially food related illness. The food service also
responded to 52 national food alerts and 38 food allergy
notifications. The service completed its food sampling programme,
taking 262 food and environmental samples.
Further details on food sampling are
provided on the sampling
webpages.
Looking beyond the routine work, the
Scores on the Doors scheme was introduced across the Borough on the
1 October 2007. This scheme involves publishing, via the Council’s
website, the risk ratings given by food officers following their
food safety inspections. As a result of publishing the food safety
inspection ratings, we have seen the percentage of excellent (5
star) premises increase from 3.3% to 11%. Even more importantly, we
have seen the number of very poor (zero star) premises decrease
from 6.3% to just 0.5%. Only four premises now fall within the very
poor category and they are the subject of focused enforcement
activity. These figures indicate that food produced within
the Borough is safer since we introduced Scores on the Doors and
that public health is better protected as a direct result of the
work undertaken by the Council.
A further indicator of the success of
Scores on the Doors is the interest and support it has received
from the public. After just three months of operation over 31,000
enquiries were made on the Scores on the Doors website. By the end
of March we had received over 8,000 enquiries. Finally, it was
pleasing to have the scheme recognised by our own staff as
important when we received the 2007 Root & Branch award for
best innovation.
You can find more information on our
Scores on the
Doors webpages.
Another important programme operated
by the food service over last financial year was Safer Food Better
Business (SFBB). This is a practical approach to food safety
management that helps small businesses put in place food safety
management procedures and comply with food hygiene regulations.
There are a number of SFBB packs available which
are designed to meet the specific needs of different food
businesses. There are packs for catering and retail businesses
including restaurants and takeaways that serve different cuisines.
A grant from the Agency made it possible to provide workshops on
SFBB and
funded coaching visits to help businesses implement the system.
During 2007/08 a total of 39 businesses attended the workshops and
received coaching visits. The SFBB programme has been very
well received by Ashford’s food businesses and it is hoped that we
will be able to continue promoting SFBB despite Agency funding
no longer being available. This is important in order to provide
businesses with a practical way of improving their risk category
and therefore getting more stars for Scores on the Doors.
You can find more information on our
Safer
Food Better Business webpages.
The service also contributes to food
safety policy development across both the County and nationally.
The Council’s Lead Food Safety Officer attends the Kent Food Group
and another member of the team is Secretary of the Kent Food
Sampling Group. The Environmental Health Manager is an adviser to
the Local Government Association Food Policy Forum and takes over
as Chair later in the year.
Service objectives for 2008/09
Our primary service objectives are as
follows:
- To carry out food safety inspections.
At present this will involve around 570 inspections
- To undertake food complaint
investigations
- To operate a Scores on the Doors
scheme
- To promote the Safer Food Better
Business programme
- To explore implementing a Health
Choices Award
- To provide food hygiene a programme
of formal food safety training for businesses
- To provide more information on food
issues on the Council’s website. To initially focus on advice for
new food businesses
- To undertake a programme of food
sampling
- To investigate notifications of food
related infectious disease
- To respond to food safety incidents
and respond to food hazard alerts
- To support the Kent Food Group and
participate in appropriate peer audits
- To support the LGA Food Policy
Forum
- To ensure that all operational
procedures are updated to reflect Food Standard Agency Code of
Practice changes
An important priority over 2008/09
will be to increase our partnership work with the Primary Care
Trust and Kent Public Health. Work will initially focus on
implementing a Healthy Choices Award. Promoting safer and healthier
food is one of the most direct and effective ways of improving the
quality of people’s lives, and Ashford’s food service is able to
help do this. This work also links to the Kent Agreement targets
around obesity and mortality rates.
If you wish to know more information
please contact the Food Team on 01233 330581 or email envhealth@ashford.gov.uk.
This webpage was updated on 6/19/2008