Minutes of Enforcement Liaison Group meeting: 20 November 2008

Sarah Appleby – Food Standards Agency (FSA) (Chair)
Shaheen Zar – FSA
Rachel Patrick – FSA
Chris Harvey – FSA
Geoff Deville – FSA
Kevin Woodfine – FSA
Paul Cook – FSA
Catriona Stewart – FSA
Mike Bassett – FSA Wales
Peter Midgley – FSA Scotland
Michael Jackson – FSA Northern Ireland
Kirsty Dawes – Asoociation of Port Health Authorities (APHA)
Duncan Campbell – Association of Public Analysts
Damian Connolly – Belfast City Council
Erica Smith – Food and Drink Federation
Una Kane – Rother District Council
Stuart Musgrove – Institute of Food Science and Technology (IFST)
Philip Davies – Welsh Local Government

1. Sarah Appleby introduced herself, as the new Chair of the Enforcement Liaison Group (ELG), and the new Secretariat – Shaheen Zar, Rachel Patrick and Chris Harvey – following the most recent re-organisation of the division.

2. Sarah welcomed attendees to the meeting and recorded her thanks to the former Chair Tom Murray, who has retired, and the former secretariat for all of their efforts over the past few years.

3. Sarah apologised to attendees for the ELG meeting clashing with the CIEH Conference taking place on the same day and noted that this had resulted in a number attendees not being available to attend the ELG meeting.
Action: Secretariat to ensure that future ELG meetings do not conflict with other anticipated event – Chris Harvey

4. Apologies for the meeting were received in advance by Phil Dalton (Asda), John Dyson (British Hospitality Association), Sally Barber (British Retail Consortium), David Pickering (Buckinghamshire County Council), Jenny Morris (Chartered Institute of Environmental Health), Alan Richards (Durham County Council), Jane Davies (FSA Wales), Jim Mclauchlin (Health Protection Agency), Nick O’Donnell (Healtrh and Safety Executive), Gwyneth Rogers (LACORS) and John McKee (Northern Ireland Local Government Association)

5. No comments were raised with regard to this item and the minutes of the last meeting were accepted as an accurate record.

6. Sarah updated the group on the three outstanding action points against the FSA, from the previous meeting, as follows:

• proposed dates for ELG meetings in 2009 are Monday 9 February, Wednesday 23 June, and Wednesday 18 November
• a revised Terms of Reference for ELG has been published on the FSA website
• FSA is currently considering how best to involve under-represented stakeholders on the group

7. Sarah introduced this item, presented by Paul Cook, and advised that as the investigation into this particular outbreak was ongoing, the matter should be treated with sensitivity until the Outbreak Control Team concluded their investigations. Any issues discussed should therefore be kept within the group. Members will be kept updated on progress.

8. Paul provided a detailed presentation on the subject and explained that over the years there have been outbreaks of Salmonella Agona infection in Europe and North America, affecting diverse food products: cereals (USA), infant formula (France), peanut products (Israel and North America) and processed meats (UK and Europe). Although not a common serotype in the UK, outbreaks have occurred in the past.

9. Sarah thanked Paul for an informative and valuable presentation She also reiterated the importance of educating food businesses and the public, on the importance of proper handling and cooking of food, and the FSA’s role in changing ‘behavioural issues’. Erica Smith supported this and highlighted that various Divisions within the Agency and other government departments should work closely by sharing experiences, so as to prevent any potential outbreaks in the future.

10. Kevin Woodfine introduced the paper that outlined the guides in circulation since 1997 and the impact on their development, mainly as a result of the consolidation of the EU hygiene legislation. Kevin invited comments from the Group on the efficacy and relevance of industry guides to both food businesses and local authorities

11. Kevin also recorded these comments raised, in advance of the meeting, by John Dyson:

• Development has been slowed by the European Parliamentary debates on exemption for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) from the requirements of Article 5 i.e the HACCP requirements. This matter remains unresolved as the Commission have not moved forward on the proposal for exemption. We along with other Trade Associations, FSA and CIEH campaigned not to have exemptions to Article 5. Until this issue has been resolved, it will be difficult to see how progress can be made.
• The guides are UK and there are three standards for compliance for Article 5 in England, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. The views of the ELG would be helpful.
• We have been involved in the development of a European Guide for the contract Catering Industry through FERCO and this is progressing to recognition.

12. ELG members agreed that the existence of three HACCP compliance tools was not a problem because they are just tools that relate to the same requirements and so do not represent standards or contradict each other in any way. They were also seen as quite simple and it was noted that many businesses want more reassurance in terms of their HACCP procedures and the more comprehensive approach to compliance taken in industry guides could provide that.

13. Una Kane noted the importance of industry guides, particularly to small businesses, but pointed out that some of the guides were either out of date and/or out of print. There was a vacuum, particularly in relation to guidance on the catering and retail trade, and requested the urgent development of those guides. Damian Connolly also highlighted the significance of up to date guides for local authorities, as they routinely referred to them during inspections and when in contact with food businesses. This was supported by other members.

14. Kevin noted that although some of the guides in circulation had been drawn up under the previous legislation, and were increasingly out of date, they have equivalent status by virtue of Regulation 852/2004. In response to the concerns raised by the group – that some of the guides were not compatible with their objectives – it was agreed that guidance should be issued to local authorities, via LACORs, to apply caution when referring to the old guides. It was noted that information already existed on the FSA website, but direct communication was preferred.
Action - issue guidance to local authorities, via LACORs, to apply caution when referring to the old guides - Una Kane

15. Kevin pointed out that in relation to the retail and catering guides these were at various stages of development, the retail guide being near completion.

16. In response to a request for a list of priority good practice guides needed, the group had a general preference towards catering, retail, dairy at primary production, horticulture, sandwich making, retail butchery, pork primary production and beef primary production.

17. Summarising the discussion, Sarah concluded that the guides played a significant part in helping both local authorities and food business operators to achieve their objectives. It was therefore vital for the old guides to be taken out of circulation and replaced with new guides that align with the EU hygiene legislation.

18. Kevin introduced this paper and invited comments from the group. The draft updated guidance is currently undergoing stakeholder consultation the deadline for comments is 26 January 2009.

19. Una commented positively on the content and style of the guide, but suggested that for consistency and clarity ‘EHDs’ should be replaced with ‘local authorities’ and 'EHOs' should be replaced with 'environmental health professionals'.

20. Stuart Musgrove suggested the inclusion of guidance specifically for managers, such as an Executive Summary, on their role in encouraging their staff to report illness. However, given food handlers fear and reluctance of reporting illness, it was recommended that the guidance should also provide advice on where they could seek further advice and help on the matter, eg. Citizens Advice Bureau. This was endorsed by rest of the members.

21. Geoff Deville introduced the paper and explained that the update on the Framework Agreement work had focussed on the changes being made to policy on enforcement, to the monitoring system and to audit arrangements. Drafts on the updated texts had been sent to local authorities, the Local Authority Associations and to ELG members seeking comments by 9 January 2009.

22. Philip Davies requested the deadline to be extended to take account of any recommendations following the outcome of the Pennington enquiry on the E.coli outbreak in Wales, due to be published some time in January 2009.

23. Sarah confirmed that the FSA should be able to extend the deadline for responses by a couple of weeks if it was likely to help respondents to take account of any recommendations resulting from the Pennington enquiry.
Action: Update Geoff on anticipated publication date for the outcomes of the Pennington enquiry - Mike Bassett

Scores on the doors
24. Sarah introduced the update on Scores on the doors and clarified why legal advice had been sought. Essentially, it was to ensure that the Agency had the powers to endorse a UK-wide scheme; and in turn local authorities to operate the scheme and to publish the results.

25. Catriona Stewart explained that the Agency does have the powers to endorse the scheme and local authorities have the necessary powers to operate the scheme. However, currently the powers do not extend to Northern Ireland. Therefore, it is unlikely that local authorities in Northern Ireland would be able to operate the scheme legitimately. There are proposals to introduce such powers in the review of public administration in Northern Ireland planned for 2011.

26. Catriona also noted that consideration was being given to ensure that proper safeguards were put in place to ensure food business operators have the opportunity to request re-inspection or the right to appeal if they perceived an injustice in the way the scheme was being administered.

Code of Practice (CoP)
27. Mike Bassett reported that the CoP hade been issued in Wales in September; and intervention training events to take place on 2 and 3 December.

28. Michael Jackson reported that the intervention training events for Northern Ireland had been published.

Public analyst service
29. Duncan Campbell expressed his concerns on the direction of the draft paper, and requested it to be reviewed. In particular the requirement for a public analyst to hold MChemA qualification being viewed as ‘gold plating’ under EU legislation, was challenged. Duncan said that the level of funding and public spending on analytical services needed to be raised. Lowering the levels of qualifications will not improve or increase the number of public analysts.

30. Sarah said that the FSA had a duty to ensure that sufficient provisions across the UK were available to enable local authorities to carry out there statutory functions in relation to food and public health. The FSA has therefore been looking at how local authorities can acquire these services rather than how to increase the number of public analysts.

31. Damien Connolly said that public analysts provided a much more comprehensive service than merely analysing samples.

32. Kirsty Dawes noted her concern over the shortage of Public Analysts in the UK and the significant further decline of the service anticipated in future years. She stressed the need for a faster service and the increase in sample requirements by port health authorities. However, she also recognised the expert service that is currently provided and the confidence that local authorities have in the advice and guidance provided. This would only come with suitably qualified analysts. She agreed that the report was lacking in details and should include, in particular, how Public Analysts work was carried out in other EU countries. The option of delegating some of the work to other official control laboratories such as CSL, should also be explored.

33. Stuart Musgrove asked whether it was the availability of public analysts or whether the availability of public service laboratories, or equipment, was really the issue?

34. Sarah welcomed the varied comments and suggestions, and agreed that there was more work to be done on the paper. The matter will be brought back to the group for further consideration.
Action: report back to ELG, for further consideration, FSA proposals for the provision of public analyst services in the UK – Colin Houston