Northern Ireland remains the only part of the UK where there is a mandatory regulation for food outlets to display their food hygiene rating – and in a ‘prominent location’.
That’s why Northern Ireland has traditionally been the best performing region in the UK when it comes to maintaining standards.
No hospitality business wants to be in a position where the food they serve falls below an expected standard. Customers getting sick by eating what they purchase would be the worst advertising imaginable.
But it has been revealed that the number of inspections being carried out by local councils has dropped considerably in the last few years – with as many as one in five outlets now operating without being inspected or with an inspection rating that is past its use by date.
Any outlet serving food used to expect inspections between every six months and two years. It kept them on their toes, maintained standards and, in addition, the Food Standards Agency was able to provide support and guidance for staff.
Having worked so hard to become the best in the business at keeping the standards of the food being served so high, it would be a shame if that system which has worked so well for so long was allowed to deteriorate.
And as the backlog of inspections has grown – initially due to austerity measures reducing the number of Environmental Health Officers and compounded by the halting of inspections with businesses closed during Covid – there is now a pressing need to catch up quickly.
It’s always reassuring to know that what you’re buying isn’t going to make you ill.
The training and advice provided by Environment Health Officers has been instrumental in helping the industry raise standards to a very high level.
Fall off that perch – we are teetering on the brink – and we could well land with a bump.
The warnings are there from the Food Standards Agency – a good job continues to be done, but it’s not been done often enough, quickly enough or with the regularity that was the hallmark of building trust from customers that what we put in our mouths isn’t going to come straight back up again.
Increasing the potential for an outbreak of illness will only pile more pressure on a health system which can hardly cope as it is.
One more example then of how cuts to public services are filtering down to affect everyday life in Northern Ireland.
But where public health is concerned, can we really afford to continue cutting corners?