Food Standards Agency publishes incidents report
12:36 - 24/05/2011
Food Standards Agency publishes incid...
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) recently published its ‘Annual Report of Incidents 2010’, which features case studies of some of the 1,505 incidents they dealt with last year.
Incidents are defined as events where there are concerns about the safety or quality of food that could require intervention to protect consumers. These could be the contamination of food in the processing, distribution, retail and catering chains or the environmental pollution of food.
The report outlines incidents which contributed towards the FSA’s overall strategic objective of safer food for the nation and details future challenges, such as the safety of food at the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics.
The Agency’s report reveals that there were almost 300 more incidents in 2010 than in the previous year, and that these included outbreaks of salmonella, shellfish poisoning and seizures of alcohol containing harmful levels of methanol.
Incidents are broken down into major categories such as environmental contamination, which accounted for almost a quarter of incidents, microbiological, natural chemical and on-farm incidents.
The year 2010 saw the FSA work to refine their food alert system and carry out a number of incident reviews and exercises in order to improve the way they work. They also delivered training workshops for local authorities to help them to improve partnership working and the way in which incidents are handled.
During 2010, the Agency was forced to issue 70 product recall and withdrawal notices, and around 34 of these were allergy alerts. Such notifications are sent to consumers and enforcement officers by e-mail, SMS text message or online.
Perry Leeks, Managing Director at First Response, says: “The Food Standards Agency obviously do a great job in trying to keep consumers safe and address the issue of food safety and hygiene across the country. Reports like this help us to see what type of incidents recur repeatedly year on year and the effects that they have.
"Many of the incidents that have taken place during the past year do relate to bacteriological contamination of food and outbreaks of food poisoning. It is important that anyone involved in the handling and preparation of food understands the key principles for keeping food safe and preventing contamination, whether they work in a catering or hospitality setting, or in a setting which handles the manufacture, processing and distribution of food.
“ We offer a number of Food Hygiene training courses, including a basic awareness course aimed at those who serve, handle and store food and beverages, to more in-depth Level 2 and Level 3 food hygiene courses which extend to those who prepare and cook food. These courses are available as CIEH-accredited courses and they provide delegates with an understanding of food safety requirements and the knowledge to effectively control and minimise the risks involved. The Level 3 course is particularly suitable for supervisors and managers.”
For more information on any of their Food Hygiene training courses, please call First Response today on 0800 310 2300.
Incidents are defined as events where there are concerns about the safety or quality of food that could require intervention to protect consumers. These could be the contamination of food in the processing, distribution, retail and catering chains or the environmental pollution of food.
The report outlines incidents which contributed towards the FSA’s overall strategic objective of safer food for the nation and details future challenges, such as the safety of food at the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics.
The Agency’s report reveals that there were almost 300 more incidents in 2010 than in the previous year, and that these included outbreaks of salmonella, shellfish poisoning and seizures of alcohol containing harmful levels of methanol.
Incidents are broken down into major categories such as environmental contamination, which accounted for almost a quarter of incidents, microbiological, natural chemical and on-farm incidents.
The year 2010 saw the FSA work to refine their food alert system and carry out a number of incident reviews and exercises in order to improve the way they work. They also delivered training workshops for local authorities to help them to improve partnership working and the way in which incidents are handled.
During 2010, the Agency was forced to issue 70 product recall and withdrawal notices, and around 34 of these were allergy alerts. Such notifications are sent to consumers and enforcement officers by e-mail, SMS text message or online.
Perry Leeks, Managing Director at First Response, says: “The Food Standards Agency obviously do a great job in trying to keep consumers safe and address the issue of food safety and hygiene across the country. Reports like this help us to see what type of incidents recur repeatedly year on year and the effects that they have.
"Many of the incidents that have taken place during the past year do relate to bacteriological contamination of food and outbreaks of food poisoning. It is important that anyone involved in the handling and preparation of food understands the key principles for keeping food safe and preventing contamination, whether they work in a catering or hospitality setting, or in a setting which handles the manufacture, processing and distribution of food.
“ We offer a number of Food Hygiene training courses, including a basic awareness course aimed at those who serve, handle and store food and beverages, to more in-depth Level 2 and Level 3 food hygiene courses which extend to those who prepare and cook food. These courses are available as CIEH-accredited courses and they provide delegates with an understanding of food safety requirements and the knowledge to effectively control and minimise the risks involved. The Level 3 course is particularly suitable for supervisors and managers.”
For more information on any of their Food Hygiene training courses, please call First Response today on 0800 310 2300.
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