Dover District Council and Port Health Authority

Wednesday 8 September 2004

2 – 4 December 2003

Dover District Council was not providing an effective imported food control law enforcement service. Although Dover is a significant port of entry for imported foods, the authority did not have a current service plan that addressed its imported food law enforcement responsibilities or that identified the resources needed to provide an effective service.

The authority did not have adequate systems in place aimed at identifying and checking relevant foods.

The authority estimated in its official returns to the Agency that, in the previous two years, around 100,000 NPOAO (Not products of animal origin) food consignments had arrived through Dover from third countries and on transhipments via other Member States without previous food safety checks. The authority's records showed that the service had examined only ten of these consignments. Furthermore, mandatory controls in respect of high risk foods had not been carried out in accordance with European Community Decisions and UK Emergency Control legislation.

The authority had used its formal enforcement powers in only a few cases and there were a number of problems in the drafting and processing of these formal notices.

A part-time Port Health Officer had been designated, but imported food control represented about 5% of the officer's responsibilities. The Port Health Officer's qualifications and training were insufficient for the duties required of this post and the level of authorisation conferred.

Some records of imported food activities were maintained in a handwritten log. These records were not sufficiently detailed to permit consignment traceability or to provide a record of any relevant actions taken, including deferrals of enforcement responsibility to other authorities. The authority's official monitoring returns made to the Agency were compiled from incomplete records of actions and contained a number of inaccuracies.

The authority was not carrying out internal monitoring of officer actions and did not have updated procedural guidance for imported food control activities.