Pennington criticises review delay- April 9th, 2012

Consumer Focus Wales (CFW) has called on the Welsh Government to publish a long-awaited review of food law enforcement commissioned in the wake of the 2005 E. coli outbreak.

In its third report on progress made following the Pennington inquiry, CFW said Wales was ‘still ahead of the game’ compared to other UK countries but warned that a review by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) had been delayed by a year.

CFW head of policy Liz Withers said there had been ‘great strides’ taken by the Welsh Government to improve food safety.

She added: ‘But we are disappointed that a year on from our last report, the FSA food law enforcement review, commissioned by the Welsh Government, has yet to be published.

‘It is 12 months overdue – this simply isn’t good enough for consumers in Wales.’

Professor Pennington told EHN: ‘Like Consumer Focus Wales, I am disappointed. However, better that things are done properly, than not at all. My biggest worry after the publication of my report was that it would be warmly received, but then join all the other inquiry reports on the library shelves.

‘I know that local authorities in Wales have done a lot, but CFW has been a very good advocate for the consumer. I hope that it survives the “bonfire of the quangos”.’

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GUIDANCE ON SETTING UP A FOOD STALL DURING THE OLYMPICS - April 5th, 2012

The Food Standards Agency is reminding anyone who is considering setting up a stall selling refreshments during the Olympics to plan ahead. To help, the Agency has produced guidance answering the most frequently asked questions.
http://www.food.gov.uk/news/newsarchive/2012/mar/olympicsstalls

Food inspector shows what not to do- April 4th, 2012

As a council food hygiene inspector, Nigel Shire is normally clamping down on bad habits in the kitchen.

But at the weekend, he swapped roles and acted the part of a highly dodgy chef to highlight the food safety risks for people cooking their own meals.

B&NES Council official Nigel joined two professional actors in a lively piece of street theatre organised by the authority to help stop people getting food poisoning.

The Disaster Chef performances in the SouthGate centre were designed to spread the message among shoppers in a fun way.

Nigel played an incompetent cook who did everything wrong, such as wiping his hands on his apron instead of washing them, dropping ingredients on the floor and ignoring the danger of contamination even when he cuts himself.

Nigel, a chef himself for 25 years before retraining as a food hygiene inspector, said: “I felt nervous before the show but it was great fun. When you see these mistakes being made in the kitchen for real though, as I do, it can get quite frightening.”

Between performances, passers-by were invited to take part in a food safety quiz and test their hand-washing methods.

The council’s food safety team also set up a fridge, cooker, sink and work surface in the street to reinforce the essential rules of food hygiene.

Principal environmental health officer Kelvin Pearce said: “Most people who suffer food poisoning immediately think it’s down to the last takeaway or meal out they had, but in truth a very high proportion of cases can be due to mistakes at home.

“Our goal for this event was to give people the information they need to store, prepare and cook food safely, thereby cutting cases of food poisoning in the home.”

The event was part of Safe at Home

This is Bath

More than 200 local authorities have joined the FHRS- April 3rd, 2012

Over the past few days a number of local authorities in Warwickshire and other areas in England have rolled out the Agency’s Food Hygiene Rating Scheme. This means there are now more than 200 local authorities in England, Wales and Northern Ireland publishing more than 180,000 food hygiene ratings at food.gov.uk/ratings.

These are the local authorities that have recently joined the FHRS:

• Coventry City Council
• Harrogate Borough Council
• Nuneaton and Bedworth Council
• Rugby Borough Council
• South Holland District Council
• Torridge District Council
• Warwick District Council

Other local authorities will be rolling out the scheme over the next few weeks and months.

The Food Hygiene Rating Scheme helps you choose where to eat out or shop for food by giving you information about the hygiene standards in restaurants, pubs, cafés, takeaways, hotels and other places you eat, as well as in supermarkets and other food shops.

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Cook chicken livers ‘thoroughly’- April 2nd, 2012

The Food Standards Agency is reminding people to cook chicken livers thoroughly to reduce food poisoning risk.
Research carried out by the University of Aberdeen found that 81% of chicken livers purchased from supermarkets and butchers contained campylobacter, the most common food-poisoning bug.
The study, funded by the FSA in Scotland, found a 35% increase in cases of campylobacter infection since 2005. In 2010, 14 outbreaks
of the bug in the UK were associated with consumers eating chicken or duck liver paté.
To kill any bacteria, chicken livers should be cooked thoroughly until there is no pinkness left in the centre. This is the only way of ensuring they will be safe to eat.
The Agency is working closely with the UK poultry industry and retailers to reduce levels of campylobacter in UK-produced poultry.