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Failing to attend court for two food hygiene charges has resulted in a guilty verdict for a Surrey Chinese Restaurant.  Simon Chow who runs the New Tong Fung restaurant in Brighton Road, Redhill was fined £2180  in his absence in addition to a victim surcharge of £15.  The Environmental Health News (Vol 25, Issue 14 - July 16, 2010) outlined that after a routine food safety inspection in March 2009, Mr Chow was served with two hygiene improvement notices for inadequate cleaning and a lack of a food safety management system.  After a follow up inspection revealed no improvement, legal action was commenced. The restaurant has now made improvments but is a little lighter when it comes to cash !

The CIEH has launched new guidance on outdoor and mobile catering to help promote best practice in food safety and health and safety at outdoor events.

The guidance aims to provide the basis for a commonly agreed, consistent national standard in outdoor catering management.

Sharon Smith, CIEH strategic projects director, said: ?Catering at outdoor events is a high-risk activity. Large numbers of people, frequent use of temporary staff, the temporary nature of the accommodation and high-risk products for sale place specific pressure on food and health and safety management.

?The nature of these events and the uncertainties of the UK weather mean that environmental conditions are an added challenge to traders. Experience at some of the largest outdoor events, such as the Olympics, has emphasised the risks associated with food handling and cross-contamination under these circumstances.?

Each event poses different challenges, but the CIEH hopes that the guidance will enable clearer planning of the environmental health response to outdoor event catering.

The guidance has been produced by the CIEH Olympic Working Group but it is anticipated that it will also be used for other international, regional, and local events.

The CIEH National Guidance for Outdoor and Mobile Catering includes downloadable templates, check lists and pro-forma letters to help LAs manage outdoor events.

www.cieh.org/policy/guidance_outdoor_mobile_catering.html

ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH NEWS  02 July 2010

Most pupils have a good understanding of what makes up a healthy diet and, in the majority of schools visited, food was nutritious and well-prepared, according to an Ofsted report.

Nutrient-based standards for lunches came into force in 2008 for primary schools and in 2009 for secondary schools. Initiatives were focused on 70 areas in the bottom fifth for health and deprivation in England.

The Oftsted survey examined 17 primary, 16 secondary, five special schools and one pupil referral unit in the 70 areas.

Twenty-four of the 39 schools analysed were complying with, or close to complying with, the final food-based and nutrient-based standards. Thirty-two of the schools had achieved National Healthy Schools status.

Most of the schools had whole-school food policies, reflecting varying degrees of consultation with stakeholders.

Not all had policies on packed lunches. Where these existed, they tended to focus on what should be excluded rather than on how to provide a balanced meal in a cost-effective way.

Vegetarian options were available in all the schools visited but, in three cases, only on request.

Some schools had succeeded in increasing the take-up of free school meals through sensitive advice and support.

However, the report found that less thought had been given to providing support and advice for families who were not entitled to free school meals but whose incomes were low.

Discussions with some of these parents indicated that they had to budget very carefully to pay for a school meal. There were instances where siblings had to take turns to have a school lunch because of the cost.

A weakness in most schools was the lack of monitoring to ensure school food standards were fully met, says Ofsted. Governors were often unaware of their responsibilities in this respect.

ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH NEWS  02/07/10

An independent investigation into the outbreak of E. coli O157 at Godstone Farm in 2009 has recommended that every local authority has a senior post dedicated to managing the

authority?s role in outbreak control.

It also calls for enhanced training for EHOs in risk assessing and inspecting open farms.

The investigation was chaired by Prof George Griffin. Its report is highly critical of the Health Protection Agency?s response to the E. coli outbreak.

The UK?s largest outbreak linked to an open farm made 93 people ill, including 82 children, eight of whom required dialysis. Some children may need a kidney transplant.

The report says: ?No one person in the Health Protection Unit appears to have had a clear picture of how many cases of E. coli O157 with links to Godstone Farm had been reported. The outbreak control team was convened exceptionally late? Had it been convened earlier, there would almost certainly have been a more effective control of the outbreak.? There was also ?unacceptable delay? in starting the case-control study.

The report adds: ?There was a lack of public health leadership and a missed opportunity to exercise decisive public health action and restrict the size of the outbreak.?

Jenny Morris, CIEH principal policy officer, who gave evidence to the report said: ?We were pleased to be invited to talk to the investigation and glad that, in these times of change, it acknowledged the need for a clearly- identified, competent, senior officer to manage a local authority?s outbreak control response. We will now do our best to help the profession to act on the inquiry?s finding.?

Justin McCracken, HPA chief executive, acknowledged that the agency should have responded quicker. He said it would act immediately on all the recommendations, working with local authorities, the Health and Safety Executive and government departments.

There would be new guidelines for health protection units, operating instructions for staff and an improved, web-based office management system. The HPA would have a new serious incident policy and its emergency response plan would be reviewed.

www.griffininvestigation.org.uk

ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH NEWS 02/07/10

(Reuters) - Starbucks Corp has been sued by a customer who allegedly suffered second-degree burns after being served tea that was too hot.

According to the complaint, the plaintiff Zeynep Inanli was served tea that was "unreasonably hot, in containers which were not safe," at a Starbucks store at 685 Third Avenue in Manhattan.

As a result of Starbucks' negligence, the plaintiff suffered "great physical pain and mental anguish," including the burns, the complaint said.

The plaintiff seeks unspecified damages.

Starbucks, based in Seattle, did not immediately return requests for comment. The plaintiff's lawyer did not immediately return a call for comment.

Retailers periodically face lawsuits for serving beverages at temperatures that customers say are too high.

In one well-known case, a jury in 1994 ordered McDonald's Corp to pay .86 million to Stella Liebeck, an Albuquerque, New Mexico woman who claimed she scalded herself with the restaurant's coffee. The parties later settled.

The case is Inanli v. Starbucks Corp et al, New York State Supreme Court, New York County, No. 105767-2010.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel; Editing by Bernard Orr)

The Food Standards Agency have warned parents not to feed honey to babies less than a year old following a case of infant botulism.  Evidently it is safe for babies over a year old but those less than a year cannot fight off the botulism bacteria.

The Food Standards Agency has published online advice on the safe use of eggs in catering.  The guidance covers handling, storage, cooking, use of pasteurised egg and catering for vulnerable groups.

We have known for years that Salmonella bacteria is associated with raw eggs both inside the egg and on the shell.   It is key that handling raw eggs recognizes this risk and appropriate hygiene measures are taken.

Some of the advice provided covers pooling of eggs (cracking eggs in bulk and using throughout the day). The FSA says these should all be used on the same day, fresh eggs should not be introduced to the mix and it should not be stored longer than 24 hours.

The advice can be viewed at food.gov.uk/foodindustry/caterers/eggs

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has launched a new Safer Food Better Business (SFBB) pack specifically aimed at the niche market of childminders.  The purpose of the pack is to provide simple and straightforward advice on food handling but in the context of childminders.  Although it is based on the existing SFBB pack, it is shorted and is tailored to childminders. As such it focuses on feeding babies and children, cooking, cleaning, chilling and looking after a child with a food allergy.

As with the other editions of SFBB, reporting is by exception so users of the pack only need to write down information which reflects a problem. 

For further information go to food.gov.uk/foodindustry/regulation.hygleg/hyglegresources/sfbb/sfbbchildminders

To obtain a copy of the pack "SFBB for Childminders" phone 0845 606 0667 or email foodstandards@ecgroup.co.uk

Euro-Pacific Partnerships can support all food handlers in terms of implementing and working with SFBB.

A word of warning for all food businesses..... the Food Standards Agency is warning food businesses to be aware of fraudsters claiming to be from the Food Standards Agency (FSA).  They are attempting to impose fixed penalty fees for alleged unhygienic conditions.   The Environmental News (02/10/09) reports that the FSA said "The agency does not carry out food inspections and there are no fixed penalties for food safety breaches.  All inspections are carried out by local authority authorised inspectors".

If in doubt always as for ID and contact your local Environmental Health Department just to be sure.....