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94
Environmental Health
FOOD HYGIENE
The maintenance of a satisfactory standard of hygiene is one of the most important duties of a
Public Health Inspector. Standards of cleanliness and hygienic methods are laid down in the Food
Hygiene Regulations and associated legislation. They represent minimum standards and if these are
not complied with an offence is committed.
The standards laid down are designed to ensure that the food supplied to the consumer, whether
it be from a luxury hotel, mobile snack bar or an automatic machine on the factory floor, is both clean
and safe to eat.
The terms "clean and safe" when applied to food are by no means complementary as a visually
acceptable food may contain large numbers of pathogenic organisms while a food aesthetically objectionable
might have no injurious effect on health if eaten.
The achievement of an acceptable hygiene standard depends upon the co-operation of all concerned
in the handling of food, their appreciation of their responsibilities and the underlying reasons for the
various statutory requirements. It is of no avail if a food handler will only use tongs for serving meat,
refrain from licking fingers, smoking, etc., when an Inspector is present and promptly reverts to these
bad habits when he leaves.
The Public Health Inspector has a duty to ensure that not only do the premises comply structurally
with the various statutory requirements, but also to ensure that the food is stored, handled, prepared
and supplied in such a manner and under such conditions which, as far as possible, eliminate all dangers
of contamination.
Structural conditions are assessed by visual inspection but, handling methods, etc. necessitate
careful study and require a detailed knowledge of all aspects of the trade together with the problems
and conditions involved and call for close co-operation from the food handlers and management.
The bacteriological tests on food provide an indication as to the hygiene of food handling. There
are no fixed bacteriological standards for foods generally and some authorities deplore this, arguing
that action cannot be taken if high bacterial counts are obtained.
The answer, of course, is that it is the conditions which give rise to the high counts that require
attention and not the figures obtained. High counts are invariably attributable to some failure in
complying with the statutory standards laid down in the Regulations.
The inspectors' work in food premises has been followed up in the Public Health Laboratory.
Food samples have been submitted for bacteriological examination and in some cases, swabs from
equipment. Although there are no legal standards for these matters, the results are a good guide to the
general standard of hygiene. (See table opposite)