Food Law News - UK - 2002
FSA News, 4 March 2002
ENFORCEMENT - Midlothian Council meets food safety standards
Consumers eating out, grabbing a takeaway or buying their weekly groceries in Midlothian are sufficiently protected by their food safety officers, according to a report published by the Food Standards Agency Scotland. An in-depth analysis of Midlothian Council has been carried out by the Agency as part of a national drive to improve standards of consumer protection.
The audit of Midlothian Council found that:
- staff are knowledgeable, competent and motivated,
- a programme for the inspection of food premises has been developed and implemented,
- a comprehensive food sampling programme is in place.
Some areas for improvement were identified, however, including:
- file records need to be more organised to ensure that the history of events are more clearly documented,
- the Council needs to review their formal notice procedure with regards to follow up visits and action.
Jim Thomson, Assistant Director with the Food Standards Agency Scotland, said:
'Food safety officers are the front line troops in protecting consumers from poor hygiene standards and it is vitally important that they carry out their duties effectively. The team at Midlothian Council has demonstrated a sufficient level of food law enforcement and is committed to an ethos of continuous improvement.'
A team of auditors closely scrutinised the work of Midlothian Council Food Safety Protective Services and assessed the council's conformance with specified standards. All 32 councils in Scotland are being audited as part of a three-year rolling programme which aims to improve consistency and tackle any problems which hinder effective enforcement.
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