The Food Hygiene Ratings Scheme tells us about standards in restaurants and other food businesses.
The ranking system goes from 0 (lowest) to 5 (highest). In South Holland, 97.3 per cent of food outlets have a rating of 3 or better.
Here, district council food safety officer Mandy Baker gives an account of a day of unannounced inspections…
9am: Check emails and discuss plans for the day with the Food Health and Safety team.
This includes discussions about street trading consents involving vehicles from other areas and infectious disease notifications, as well as dealing with two consignments of food which had been contaminated by illegal immigrants during transportation.
10am: Head out to Abbeygate residential home in Crowland. The home caters for 22 residents and has a small kitchen area, used by five members of staff.
10.30am: Arrive and get changed in to my white coat and protective hat and give my hands a good wash. On first inspection, all looks good. The kitchen area is spotless despite staff preparing for lunch.
All the equipment is correctly stored and food and drinks in the fridges are fresh.
I view their files, which lists where they get their food from, the temperatures it is stored at and also contains cleaning rotas and other bits of guidance.
11am: After inspecting the pantry which is also immaculate, I make the easy decision to award a five star rating.
11.30am: Next is a trip to St Paul’s Primary School in Spalding. Four weeks ago the school opened a new ‘pod’ kitchen, in which all meals are now prepared.
12pm: Everything looks good. The pod is extremely clean and contains high-tech equipment including a dishwasher which takes just two minutes to complete a load (I must get one of these at home!)
The kitchen staff run a tight ship and their files are well kept. It’s another five star certificate.
1pm: Time to head back to the office and file reports from this morning’s visits on to our computer system.
Although these visits have been plain sailing, this isn’t always the case and over the years I’ve had a few shocks.
Personal highlights (not from South Holland) include seeing a dead dog in a freezer, false teeth in a sink and a pair of pants in a tub of butter. So having a strong stomach is a job requirement!
2pm: After a quick break for lunch we’re preparing to head off on this afternoon’s inspections.
The first is at a restaurant which had a one star ranking but we have since worked with them to improve things.
However, as always the proof is in the pudding. Thankfully on arrival it appears they have heeded our advice.
It isn’t quite five star quality, but the improvements are significant enough to warrant a four star rating.
For me, that’s the best aspect of the job – knowing that what you’re doing is helping to make a positive difference.
3.30pm: Final inspection of the day is at a restaurant in the south of the district where all has not been well. It currently has a three star ranking, but they’ve not been so keen to make improvements.
4pm: Arrive and the restaurant’s premises licence (which they must have to sell alcohol) is not on display and staff don’t know where it is. Worryingly, they aren’t aware of any conditions on the licence. For example, there are signs saying that the premises has CCTV cameras, but when asked where these are, the staff don’t know.
This potentially puts the business at serious risk – failing to display a premises licence can lead to a £500 fine, failure to comply with a licence condition can result in a £20,000 fine or, even worse, six months in jail.
5pm: We head to the kitchen and it’s not a pretty sight.
There are dirty food stains all over the place – on cupboard doors and work surfaces and even on the fridge. There are also no cleaning cloths. Ready to eat food is laid on a dirty tea towel and raw meat in the fridge is being kept above ready to eat food – which could get dripped on. But the worst is yet to come.
Following recent building work, a pile of rubble sits outside the premises. Whilst inspecting this, I hear something scurrying around. I can’t see anything because it’s dark, but my suspicion is that rats are lurking.
6pm: Inspection over but I haven’t given the business a rating because I want the team to decide this, plus there may be further action to take over the premises licence.
I ask the restaurant’s manager to get a professional pest control contractor in and issue a ‘report of visit’ asking them to make a number of improvements immediately.
The premises will be revisited and we expect all of the issues to be resolved when we return.
If not, then we may need to take more formal action. As a last resort, we can issue an Emergency Prohibition Notice which forces a business to close down.
