Food Hygiene on the agenda this week for Flintshire County Council’s Cabinet

Food safety and standards in Flintshire continue to improve, the Council’s Cabinet will be told on Tuesday 14 July.

In the last 12 months, the Council’s Food Service Team has exceeded a number of its performance targets, including achieving 100% of its High Risk inspections for both food hygiene, standards and feedstuffs.

The number of Flintshire food businesses who are broadly compliant with food hygiene legislation has also improved, rising to 95.6 per cent the Council say.

The Council team promotes the sale and production of food which is fit and safe to eat and to prevent and control the spread of food borne illness, working with restaurants, caterers, factories and animal feedstuff companies to provide advice, information and assistance.

In the past 12 months, comprehensive advice was also given to businesses on changes to food standards legislation which came into force in December 2014 with numerous workshops explaining allergen labelling requirements arranged in the county.

Flintshire has around 900 premises requiring food hygiene ratings, two have scored zero, ‘urgent improvement necessary’ the lowest possible score, 41 food businesses have scored one or two, in need of major improvement, they include popular takeaways, cafe’s and pubs.

In 2014 around a quarter of all Deeside takeaway’s fell short of required food hygiene standards; there were no prosecutions in 2014 for food hygiene breaches.

• Current food hygiene ratings in Flintshire

The Cabinet will be asked to approve the Food Service Plan for the coming year, which sets the standards for food safety and food law enforcement.

Among the key targets will be to continue to achieve 100 per cent of all high risk inspections, work with other councils in North Wales to improve food hygiene in poorer performing premises and continue to promote the display of Food Hygiene Rating stickers, taking enforcement action against those business who don’t comply.

Councillor Kevin Jones, Cabinet Member for Waste Strategy, Public Protection and Leisure said:

“Food standards in the County are a priority for our Public Protection team and this plan means we can set goals and targets to make an already outstanding service even better. The team is committed to helping businesses to comply with all relevant legislation, using a balanced approach between advice and enforcement whilst ensuring the safety and well-being of the public”