Thursday 20 November 2008

Agency awards an additional one million pounds for food safety

Monday 10 July 2006

Ref: 2008/0732

The Agency today announced an additional million pounds for grants to local authorities, to boost existing funding for the training of small retailers and caterers in food safety.

The money will help businesses implement Safer food, better business (SFBB), which is the Agency's innovative approach to helping small businesses comply with the law, manage food safety, and help reduce the number of people affected by food poisoning.

SFBB was developed by the Agency as one of the tools to help businesses comply with new EU hygiene legislation, which came into force in January 2006.

Together with the existing funding for SFBB, totalling over
10m over three years, the extra money will enable the Agency and local authorities to ensure that 150,000 packs reach small caterers and 50,000 packs reach small retailers.

The extra
1m will fund the development of an interactive training resource, and help a further 5000 businesses through support from a local authority grant scheme.

David Statham, Director of Enforcement at the Food Standards Agency, said: 'Major changes have taken place in food hygiene controls since the beginning of the year, with the requirement for all businesses to have formal food safety management procedures in place.

'This extra funding for the implementation of Safer food better business will help food businesses comply with the law and further improve safety standards. This is good for public health protection and, in turn, good for business.'

In order to measure the success of the Agency's initiatives to improve food hygiene, a survey has been carried out on standards in UK premises.

The data were collected by local authorities at the end of 2005 during planned inspections of food businesses and have been collated by the Agency. It is designed to act as a baseline to measure future improvements in hygiene standards, such as those made through the SFBB initiative.

Local authorities followed up any incidents of major non-compliance with enforcement action.

Premises in the survey were assessed for an overall risk to public health and 93% were considered to present a 'low risk', although 7% were considered to present a 'high' risk.
An overall assessment of hygiene practices, procedures and controls indicated that 87% of the premises surveyed were largely compliant with hygiene regulations, although 13% showed major non-compliance.
39% of businesses in the survey had fully satisfactory food safety management systems based on Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) principles. The requirement for such a system was voluntary at the time the survey was conducted, but it has now become compulsory under food hygiene legislation.
74% of businesses in the survey had a full or good awareness of the '4 Cs' of hygiene: chilling, cross-contamination, cleaning and cooking.

David Statham added: 'This data indicates that most businesses are meeting their hygiene obligations, but there is room for improvement.

'The extra money we are making available for SFBB initiatives should help businesses raise standards further. In addition, the survey will assist local authorities to target their resources more effectively to improve compliance with the law.

'We will be holding discussions with local authorities about the survey results and how we can work with them to more effectively tackle non-compliant businesses.'

The data will be also discussed at the Agency's open Board meeting on Thursday 13 July.

Notes to Editors

1. Under the EU Food Hygiene legislation all businesses must have in place a documented food safety management procedures based on HACCP principles.

2. Safer food better business (SFBB) is one of the Agency's programmes to support small food businesses improve food safety, protect consumers and help businesses comply with hygiene regulations.

Other programmes are available and include specific initiatives in Scotland and Northern Ireland. In Wales, the Agency has agreed a food safety management strategy with local authorities. SFBB packs and other support materials are available to enforcement officers and businesses in Wales, and training in SFBB has been provided to enforcement officers, with further training planned.

3. The SFBB pack for caterers was launched in September 2005 and a support package for local authorities. The pack is based on the established '4 Cs' framework (cooking, chilling, cleaning and avoiding cross-contamination) with a diary for record keeping. It includes advice on product withdrawal and recall. More than 130,000 copies have been distributed by the end of June 2006.

4. To generate information for the survey, a questionnaire was sent out to all UK local authorities in July 2005 requesting information from inspections in hygiene management for a selection of food premises of different types. The survey was completed in November 2005 and 4846 returns were received from 316 local authorities.

5. The Food Premises Survey is available at the link below.

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Agency awards an additional one million pounds for food safety

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