Angus

The authority has a feed, food and safety services plan in place for 2011/2012 which follows the service planning guidance in the Framework Agreement. The plan was submitted to the infrastructure services committee together with a comprehensive review of the previous year’s performance for approval in August 2011.

The authority had developed documented policies and operational procedures relating to their food law enforcement responsibilities. These documents were available to all officers in electronic format on a central directory and those evaluated during the audit contained up to date references to legislation and official guidance.

Appropriate authorisation was provided across the food service.

Training records contained evidence that officers had completed a minimum 10 hours relevant training in the last year and that officers conducting inspections had received training in HACCP principles.

The procedures and documentation provided for inspections were being completed. From the files examined it was evident that officers were clear on the authority’s procedure for conducting inspections and adhered to the authority’s enforcement policy.

File checks of six general food hygiene premises confirmed that in all cases the authority were completing detailed inspections including recording the assessment of the effectiveness of HACCP based food safety management systems. Food business operators were provided with reports and clearly worded letters confirming the main findings from the inspection. The information retained provided sufficient evidence to support the basis for officers’ enforcement decisions.

The authority has a food safety law enforcement policy in place which has recently been revised. This is due to be submitted to the infrastructure services committee in November for approval.

It was evident from audit checks that officers were taking a graduated approach to enforcement and actively worked with businesses to achieve compliance. The information reviewed relating to Hygiene Improvement Notices identified that the decisions reached and actions taken were appropriate to the contraventions identified.

The authority has a documented internal monitoring procedure in place to monitor the consistency and quality of food hygiene inspections. However, the procedure was not being completely followed.