Retail News|September 2013|www.retailnews.ie|59
Food Safety Training
Could You Survive a Food Scare? Food retailers are facing new challenges when it comes to food safety. However, you can protect your business reputation through food safety training, writes Marie Ryan, Senior Environmental Health Officer, EHOA. RAPID changes in how our food is sourced and produced are creating new challenges for food retailers, who may end up suffering the collateral damage caused by a food scare. Food is no longer, as we once thought, produced in a straight line from farm to fork. In reality, livestock in the field go through an increasingly complicated chain of processing and finishing plants before finally landing on retail shelves. The recent horsemeat scandal demonstrates how this chain can become tangled and subject to fraud. In fact, the term ‘food fraud’ is one that we are likely to hear a lot more of. And even when fraud isn’t an issue, contamination of a food product in one manufacturing plant can result in shock waves throughout Europe. E. coli in your cucumber, anyone? Hepatitis A in your frozen berries? Increased Legislation and Awareness And there are other concerns. Environmental Health Officers now enforce an increasing raft of legislation, much of it originating in Europe. The year 2012 saw over 90 food businesses served with closure orders by Environmental Health Officers, an increase of 36% on the previous year. It can take years to recover from the reputation damage of a closure, as local and national media often cover the story. In addition, retailers now serve a public that is increasingly aware of food scares and bad food practices - and increasingly likely to complain if they see something they don’t like. According to the Food Safety Authority, complaints jumped by 28% between 2009 and 2012. Consumers have become highly sensitised to what they hear on the news and have never been more vocal. In such an uncertain environment, reputation is king. We cannot know where the next food story or complaint will come from. Nor can the manager or owner be in their retail store 24 hours a day. So in order to protect the reputation of a retail store, it is imperative to have properly trained staff. A well trained staff member will be able to identify and control hazards in the retail environment. They will also be able to implement strong traceability and recall procedures. It is good news, therefore, to learn that the Environmental Health Officers’ Association (EHOA) has launched its flagship primary food safety course in an online version. Already, over 90,000 EHOA Certificates in Primary Food Safety have been awarded to the food service and food retailing industry. This eLearning programme is the only online course in Ireland that is designed and certified by the Environmental Health Officers Association.
Environmental Health Officers have recently seen an explosion in the German cockroach population in Ireland.
Food Complaints: What Gets Us Hot and Bothered? Some of the most common complaints made about retail environments include: 1. Poor food handling practices, e.g. servers using the same glove for handling food and money; 2. A taste of chemicals on foodstuffs as a result of improper cleaning practices; 3. Alleged food poisoning complaints; 4. Dirty, greasy surfaces; 5. Pest complaints, including large amounts of house or fruit flies, mice and even cockroaches! The Pest Medicine? The big stories that can close down a premises and hit the headlines are often about pests, particularly rodents. In the UK, which is comparable with Ireland, figures show the rat population has been rising, with estimations that 81m rats now reside in the UK, that is 1.3 rats per person. High rat populations in the UK and Ireland are often attributed to the mild climate, enabling higher survival rates during the winter months. Building works and flood defences can result in a loss of habitat for our furry friends, who then migrate to the smelly waste receptacles at the back of your store, and indeed into your store itself. The presence of even one of these creatures can be sufficient to cause closure.