I am sure you will all remember the tragic E-Coli outbreak in the South Wales Valley, which resulted in the death of a five-year-old boy and 157 others falling ill. After an inquest of into the outbreak, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) pledged to roll out a Scores on the Doors system in Wales, designed to help customers decide where to eat and buy their food by grading restaurants and other food outlets on their hygiene levels following inspections.  The results of these inspections were expected to be available online by autumn this year.

Being a Welsh company and in the business of helping to keep people safe from food hygiene risks, I have been following this story closely and I was really disappointed to read that a full set of the Score on the Doors results would not be available until 2012.

Over 200 local authorities in the UK already have a grading system in place and it’s disappointing to see that Wales is falling behind in providing important information which could affect the wellbeing of the public. The implementation of the grading scheme in Wales has been far too gradual, meaning that the potential for outbreaks of food related illness is still a very real possibility.

Existing information on food outlets should be made available online immediately, rather than waiting for a full set of results to be published. Bacteria such as E-coli will always reside where conditions and food hygiene is poor, so it’s important that the public has access to recent inspection results. The public can use this to make informed and safe decisions about where to eat and which food suppliers to use, without having to wait for the full Scores on the Doors results.

It’s unacceptable for consumers to have to wait until 2012 to see inspection scores for their local food outlets. The FSA needs to work swiftly to ensure that up to date and accurate inspection results are available for the general public, bringing standards in line with the rest of the UK.

A survey of 3,219 adults by the UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) has found that nearly 60 per cent of over 60s are failing to correctly identify the use by date on foods and potentially, as a result, exposing themselves to the deadly Listeria bacteria.

It appears that people have a more frugal attitude during the recession and do not wanting to throw away perfectly good food. Instead of following the use by date, consumers seem to be relying on their sense of smell. But, Andrew Wadge, chief scientist at FSA, makes a really good point within an article in the Daily Telegraph:

“Smelling food isn’t enough; you can’t smell Salmonella, E.Coli and Listeria – all potential killers.”

Listeria is one of the least well-known food poisoning bacteria, and we think that it is great that the FSA is on a drive to make the general public more aware of the threat that it holds. But, this isn’t just limited to the food you buy in supermarkets; the dangers extend to food on holiday and eaten out at restaurants. The best piece of advice, is to use your common sense and to inform someone in authority if you have any concerns.

If you do have any questions, then feel free to comment on this entry and we will come back to you ASAP.

A recent survey into public attitudes towards food by the Food Standards Agency revealed a shocking truth that more than half of people would eat meat that was past its use by date, essentially playing Russian roulette with their health. Meat is a good breeding ground for bacteria, such as Salmonella, and for this reason manufacturers put ‘use by dates’ on the packaging to protect consumers from this risk. It is surprising how many people are ignoring this.

Ironically, the survey also found that health is the top priority when consumers are out shopping for food. So it seems that consumers want healthy food, but will eat meat past its use by date…

With regards to food safety when eating out, less than 20 per cent were aware of the national ‘score on the door’ scheme across England, Wales and Northern Ireland launched by the FSA in December last year. But thankfully, two thirds of the people surveyed said that they would not eat in a restaurant of cafe that had poor general cleanliness.