Inspectors face rising workload

The Chartered Institute of Environmental Health has warned of a 20% shortfall in qualified food safety inspectors over the next four years.

Director of professional services Graham Jukes pointed out that while the number of food outlets has increased by 10% in the past three years, inspection budgets have been cut and many inspectors have taken early retirement.

There has also been a fall in applications for environmental health degree courses, although efforts were being made to boost numbers; but it takes students four years to qualify.

The institute has welcomed the Food Standards Agency's report on food inspection activities, but Jukes said that the statistics used by the agency did not reflect the increase in workload for inspectors.

He said that more than 85% of all high-risk food premises were inspected when they should be, but that inspection alone was not the key to improved standards of food safety.

A study of the Blackpool district revealed that there were just three-and-a-half inspectors to cover 4,800 food premises last year. To cover them all, inspectors would have to visit eight premises a day, to the exclusion of all other duties.

Source: Caterer & Hotelkeeper magazine, 27 July - 2 August 2000