Food for thought from Steve Pepper in helping Supported Housing Projects identify their Food Hygiene obligations.   

With the advent of Supporting People many supported Housing Projects have now gone over to self-catering, as the direct cost of providing a catering service must be fully paid for (including staffing costs) by the client themselves.

Some organisations and day centres have increased their catering provision to make up the shortfall and perhaps others have been tempted to dip a toe into the provision of food or maybe some form of assisted catering.

What may surprise some people is that even if you give food away you are liable under the Relevant Food Legislation if you get it wrong and individuals, including volunteers, can face large fines and/or imprisonment.

This article, which will be published in two parts, is designed to help the supported housing project or worker to identify and understand any shortfall in their obligations. If anyone has a specific query on this issue, please direct it to the LAF office and I will try and answer as soon as I can.

INTRODUCTION

Besides the legal and moral obligations to maintain high standards of food hygiene, there is a strong business case for suggesting that this be achieved.

Fines, imprisonment and all the other adverse publicity associated with a food poisoning outbreak make it one of the most important business risks, which need to be adequately controlled.

One structured way of achieving this is to look at maintaining food hygiene from the three following separate perspectives of people, practices and paperwork

PEOPLE

The first area that should be examined when auditing a food business as regards food hygiene is that of staff turnover. There are rewards for reducing staff turnover to as low a level as possible. Ways of achieving this are to:·

• Recruit quality staff,
• Reward them well
• Provide adequate formal supervision
• Provide good welfare facilities

TRAINING REQUIREMENTS

All staff who are involved in food and food service must be supervised and instructed and/or trained in food hygiene to a level appropriate to their job. The 1995 Food Hygiene Regulations require that food hygiene training is undertaken to the level appropriate to their job. So someone producing food in a kitchen will need more training than someone selling wrapped chocolate in a newsagent.

In general the following training should apply;·

• INDUCTION TRAINING FOR ALL STAFF before they start in the workplace.
• BASIC FOOD HYGIENE For All Food Handlers 6 Hours training within 3 Months
• INTERMEDIATE AND ADVANCED for Supervisors and Managers.
• REFRESHER TRAINING - As a benchmark this should be as often as possible but formally once every 2-3 years as a minimum to provide a due diligence defence Training regulations are not specific about the frequency of refresher training. It is only briefly mentioned in the Industry Guide to Good Hygiene Practice (Catering Guide).

PRACTICES

Practice what you preach! i.e. "Do as I Do" not "Do What I Say" and this should always be a "Top Down not Bottom Up" approach. For example If you are involved in auditing a food business and have to go into a food preparation area, make sure you always wear a clean white coat/hat and wash your hands. Give the staff the right to challenge you if you forget, for example if you are wearing a wristwatch or other inappropriate jewellery.

PAPERWORK

Risk Assessment

There is a legal requirement to undertake a Risk Assessment in the 1995 Food Hygiene General Regulations (Reg 4). This will also help provide a Due Diligence defence. They must ensure that adequate safety procedures are: Identified, Implemented, Maintained and Reviewed.

The system used to satisfy this requirement must be based on the following principles.

• Identify where the hazards may occur.
• Decide which points are critical to food safety.
• Implement monitoring procedures at those points.
• Review of the system periodically and at changes.

One way of implementing a Risk Assessment is by using the "Assured Safe Catering System". Originally produced by the Department of Health, the leaflets and an inexpensive ring bound book are available from local Environmental Health Departments. These are now some years old, but probably the most widely recognised methods of undertaking a Risk Assessment in a Catering Establishment that prepares and cooks fresh food.

For those premises that still have not formalised or documented their risk assessments and identified their Critical Control Points (CCPs), Assured Safe Catering is a very generic approach and should only be a starting point to a more detailed Risk Assessment approach. By 2004 there is likely to be new legislation that will require a fully documented system to be in place.

OTHER IMPORTANT RECORDS

Temperatures of foods should be checked and recorded:On Receipt, During Storage, and Refrigeration. All Cooking Probes should be calibrated and staff should be trained in their use.

Cleaning Schedules should include:

• Daily & Cyclical Cleaning
• Method of cleaning, Chemicals Used
• Safety Instructions i.e. COSHH/Dilution Rates, Control of Substances Hazardous to Health, Regulations and Manufacturers directions
• Signatures

REASONS FOR FOOD POISONING

• Food prepared too far in advance and kept at room temperatureCooling food too slowly (NB 90 Mins max!)
• Not re-heating food correctly (+75oC)
• Using Food which is contaminated with bacteria
• Undercooking
• Inadequate thawing (especially poultry)
• Cross Contamination (Raw-Cooked food)
• Storing Hot food below +63oC
• Infected Food Handlers
• Use of Leftovers (Re-heating etc)

SUMMARY

I am sure most people are aware of the increased Health Risks that homeless people face. If we produce handle or provide food than we have a legal and moral obligation to ensure that this is done in a Hygienic, Safe and Nutritious Manner.

The clients, whose interests we represent, deserve nothing less.

Steve Pepper - is a senior training manager based in Leeds. His own training and consultancy business specialises in Health and Safety, Food Hygiene, Staff Development, Audit Programmes and Social Housing.

If you have a food hygiene query for Steve, please direct it to the LAF office and he will do his best to respond.