Councils are making fewer hygiene checks and are “struggling” to keep up with the demand from restaurants for re-inspection. The number of council hygiene inspections has dropped from 415,000 five years ago to 345,000 in 2018-19, according to the Food Standards Agency (FSA). There are also fewer inspectors on council books, with full-time staff falling from 2,500 in 2012-13 to 1,805 last year. In England there are three hygiene officers for every 1,000 establishments, compared with 5.4 in Wales. An audit of Lambeth council, south London, in 2017 caused the FSA to report that the loss of staff members “had a significant impact on the number of due food safety interventions carried out, putting at risk consumer protection and the reputation of the authority”.

Source: The Times October 04, 2019 16:10 UTC