Taunton Deane Borough Council

At the time of the audit, the local authority was undergoing a restructuring process that had resulted in a number of key personnel recently assuming new responsibilities. The service was being managed by an acting principal environmental health officer reporting to an acting operations manager. In addition there had been some staff vacancies and long term absences within the food safety team. A priority had been placed on achieving the food premises inspection programme, in particular the inspection of high risk premises.

The authority had implemented a Food Service Plan for 2009/2010 that was broadly in line with the Service Planning Guidance in the Framework Agreement. The plan would benefit from containing greater detail on the planned interventions programme for the year, and a clear comparison of the resources required to deliver the food service against the staff resources available to the authority.

The authority had documented procedures on the authorisation of officers that took account of officer qualifications, experience and competency. A combination of warrant cards and authorisation memoranda needed some expansion to cover the full range of legislation under which officers should be authorised. It was clear that the authority had a proactive approach to officer training and that there had been recent training on the evaluation and assessment of food safety management systems and on vacuum packing.

The authority had reviewed its enforcement arrangements in the light of the recommendations arising from the Pennington Inquiry into the E.coli outbreak in Wales. While the majority of procedures were considered to be satisfactory, some improvements were identified by the team, including a review of the inspection aide-memoire to further prompt officers to record adequate detail of their assessment of the HACCP-based controls implemented by the food business operator. In general officers were recording adequate detail on inspections to confirm that an effective assessment of the businesses food safety management system (FSMS) was being made.

The number of approved establishments in the district had recently increased and arrangements were being made to share enforcement in such premises between three officers rather than one specialist officer. There was some inconsistency in the level of detail recorded on files for approved establishments, but in general it was evident that appropriate assessments of the businesses’ compliance were being carried out.

The authority advised that they had not undertaken any recent food sampling activity. However, the authority had produced a comprehensive sampling programme, policy and procedure. It is understood that the authority intends participating in relevant sampling programmes in the next year.

The authority had implemented a policy and procedures on the investigation of food and food premises complaints. Record checks indicated that officers had taken appropriate action in investigating complaints relating to alleged failings of businesses FSMS.

It was clear that the authority had adopted a graduated approach to enforcement where businesses had consistently failed to properly implement a FSMS, and the full range of enforcement options was being effectively used. There were some historical issues relating to enforcement actions. However the most recent hygiene improvement notices (HIN) and hygiene emergency improvement notice (HEPN) had been carried out in accordance with the Food Law Code of Practice and other relevant guidance.

The authority had developed comprehensive internal monitoring procedures covering the range of enforcement activities carried out by the team. Records of internal monitoring were also being maintained. Updates were regularly produced and circulated to council members detailing the results of quantitative monitoring activities, such as progress against the food premises inspection programme. In addition, there were regular case load reviews and a system of peer review of inspections and enforcement activities.

A 'reality check' visit at a food business was undertaken during the audit. The main objective was to assess the effectiveness of the authority’s assessment of food business compliance with food law requirements. The officer was able to demonstrate a thorough knowledge of the FSMS in place, and it was possible to confirm that the officer had carried out an effective and thorough evaluation of the compliance of the food business at the most recent inspection.