Portsmouth City Council

Food Standards Sampling - The food standards sampling programme was effectively targeted and very thorough investigations had been undertaken in all cases where unsatisfactory results had been reported. Informative summary reports had been prepared following each sampling project for the benefit of all staff.

Food Hygiene Inspection Programme - The inspection programme had been managed effectively to ensure that inspections were being carried out at the minimum frequencies according to risk. It was clear that this had been the case for a considerable number of years.

Food Standards Inspection Programme - Food premises had historically been risk rated generically by trade type, but were not being risk rated following food standards inspections, there was no inspection programme and high risk premises were not being prioritised for inspection. However, additional staff had been recently appointed and the Authority proposed to implement an inspection programme that would commence by targeting high risk premises.

Approved Premises - The Authority's records of Approved Premises were inconsistent with those notified officially to the Food Standards Agency. It was not clear that the Authority was identifying all the premises in its area that required approval. The enforcement records of premises that had been approved were insufficient to enable an accurate assessment of whether they had been properly approved or if they had been inspected under the appropriate regulations.

Food Hygiene Records - Records for most areas of food hygiene activity were incomplete or had recently been removed as a result of a file culling exercise. The Authority did not therefore have the full enforcement histories of food businesses or adequate information to inform appropriate enforcement decisions or to provide a basis for effective monitoring.

Official Returns to the Food Standards Agency - The Authority had difficulty in submitting timely returns to the Food Standards Agency due to continuing software problems. There were also significant discrepancies between the Authority's official returns and the management reports run by the auditors from the database. Procedures required by the Standard and reported as implemented in the Authority's official returns had apparently not been developed.

Internal Monitoring - The Authority did not have documented monitoring procedures that set out the monitoring arrangements for all areas of the Standard. There was evidence of inconsistency in some areas of food hygiene work that would suggest that effective monitoring was not being carried out in practice.