This week the Food Standards Agency (FSA) launched their national food hygiene rating scheme nationwide. Finally, there’s no need to be concerned about the standard of food from that dodgy burger van in town, your local Chinese takeaway or that grotty-looking greasy cafe in your village! Instead, you’ll be able to see the ‘scores on [...]
Tags: Food Hygiene, Food Safety, food standards agency, FSA
Dead cockroaches, mouse droppings and filthy kitchen equipment lead to a failed inspection for T.G.I Friday’s flagship branch in Covent Garden. The Covent Garden branch was closed down for six days last year, and in August the branch was ordered to pay a £30,000 fine after Environmental Health Officers found mouse droppings in a bag [...]
Tags: Bartender, Cockroaches, Environmental Health, Food Hygiene, Mice, Mouse Infestation, T.G.I Fridays
Study shows that ‘bags for life’ could pose a threat to shoppers’ health. Earlier this year a joint study by the University of Arizona and Limo Loma University found that although reusable shopping bags were better for the environment, they’re not better for shoppers’ health.
Unsafe levels of harmful bacteria were found in over half the clothes tested in a recent study by the Health Protection Agency (HPA). Dirty dishcloths can lead to severe cases of food poisoning if they’re not regularly changed or disinfected. High levels of bacteria on dishcloths can indicate poor food hygiene practices.
Tags: bacteria, cloths, Food Hygiene, HPA, Listeria
This week Starbucks has revealed plans to offer a range of NVQs to baristas working in their outlets in the UK. The training scheme, which will cost the company several million pounds, will improve customer experience, boost morale and help ease high levels of staff turn over, plus give staff a range of transferable skills [...]
Tags: Food Hygiene, NVQ, Starbucks
Food production giants, Premier Foods have been fined nearly 17,000 after a mouse was found baked into a loaf of its Hovis ‘Best of Both’ bread. Stephen Forse, a father of three young children, found the mouse crushed into the loaf while buttering bread to make sandwiches for his children. The animal’s tail was missing, [...]
Tags: Contamination, Food Hygiene, Food Safety, Hovis, Mice, Pests, Premier Foods
Imagine the following scenario: You’re on holiday in Bangkok. You see an authentic market selling delicious fruits at cheap prices. You’re hungry and the produce looks tempting. You go over and grab something to eat. But in this idyllic daydream, you’re probably not imagining the infested bacteria, antifungal agents or dangerous chemicals that are on [...]
Tags: bacteria, Bangkok, Chemicals, Food Hygiene, Food Safety, Fruit, Tourism
This week the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH) announced that food businesses are cutting back on food safety and hygiene training, possibly to the detriment of the general public’s health. The CIEH reported the shocking findings after sending a survey out to over 5,000 food safety trainers and training centres. The survey was sent [...]
Tags: CIEH, Food Safety Training
Last week the Food Standard’s Agency wrote to all the local authorities in England, Wales and Northern Ireland to inform them of a brand new launch this autumn. From the 1st of October the national Food Hygiene Rating Scheme (FHRS) will be rolled out by all 22 local authorities in Wales and by many ‘early [...]
This week the Food Standards Agency will dicuss proposals for a unified, but flexible system of FOP labelling that will require manufacturers and retailers to use a combination of effective labelling techniques.
Tags: food labelling, fop, FSA