EHO shortage threatens food safety
A national shortage of environmental health officers (EHOs) could have serious consequences for food safety.
While the news may not cause red tape-burdened publicans too much heartache, the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH) is warning that a fall in the number of inspectors threatens public health.
A survey for the BBC's Real Story TV programme, in co-operation with the CIEH, found that two-thirds of local authorities are understaffed, with up to 700 unfilled EHO posts nationally.
One in five authorities said they were unable to, or struggling, to meet statutory requirements. these include health and safety and environmental protection as well as food inspections.
In the wake of a recent E.coli outbreak in south Wales, Julie Barratt, director of CIEH Wales said: "If environmental health departments continue to be under-funded we will see more outbreaks of food poisoning because there will be fewer and fewer officers to go round, looking after more and more premises."
CIEH director of professional standards Paul Robinson said: "Local government must have well trained and well qualified practitioners if it is to fulfil its public health protection role."
The survey caried out for The Publican Food Report 2005, published later this month, shows a slight reduction in inspections since last 2004. This year, 48 per cent of publicans said they had been visited by an EHO in the past six months, compared to 50 per cent a year ago.
