Food and Feed Law Service Plan 2024-2025

Ensuring the safety of food for human consumption is a long-standing and important public-health role of the Council, delivered through the Environmental Health team.

The Council has a statutory obligation to conduct a range of food and feed enforcement functions in accordance with the provisions of the Food Safety Act 1990 and a range of regulations made under the Act. The Local Authority acts as the ‘Competent Food/Feed Authority’ as required by the Food Standards Agency (FSA), the national regulator for official food and feed controls. 1

Having regard to the legislative changes following exit from the European Union (EU), there have been additional functions and duties afforded to the Food/Feed Authority to oversee and enforce, in relation to maintaining the safety and integrity of the food and feed products entering and leaving the UK. Although much of the existing legislation has been temporarily assimilated, new legislation has been adopted to enable the continued exportation of food products of animal origin, and high-risk products not of animal origin, to the EU, as well as the trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. This has resulted in many new protocols and procedures.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) is an independent Government Department responsible for overseeing and working to protect public health and consumers’ wider interests in relation to food in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. As part of the national food safety framework agreement, Codes of Practice (CoP) and supporting guidance for Competent Food/Feed Authorities are issued to direct Competent Authorities on how to fulfil their obligations in respect of food and feed official controls. 2

The CoP require that the Council has in place a risk-based intervention programme for food hygiene, food standards and feed enforcement, adequate management systems and procedures for the investigation of food and feed safety incidents and complaints, for the inspection and sampling of foods, for investigation of cases of food-related infectious disease and control of outbreaks, and for the provision of advice and guidance to food and feed businesses.

The Framework Agreement requires the Council to effectively plan the delivery of its service and to have in place a service plan setting out how the official controls will be delivered with the four main goals of ensuring:

• Food is safe
• Food is what it says it is
• Consumers can make informed choices about what to eat
• Consumers have access to an affordable diet, now and in the future.

The Food and Feed Law Service Plan 2024-25 demonstrates South Tyneside Council’s commitment to fulfil statutory obligations in an effective and proportionate manner, having regard to the resources available. Work is prioritised on a risk basis and in accordance with regulating bodies guidance on priorities which are updated annually, 3 with inspections targeted at high risk and poor performing businesses, and alternative interventions used for low-risk businesses where possible. These interventions include questionnaires, sampling visits, monitoring checks and audits completed by other local authority services. The Environmental Health service will endeavour to engage competent and duly authorised contractors to undertake certain elements of the inspection programme, providing additional capacity to tackle the significant backlog in food safety interventions due to the pandemic.

This plan aligns with many of the current priorities defined in the Food Standards Agency’s (FSA) Strategy and Strategic Plan 2022–2027 ‘Food we can Trust’ - which focuses on putting the interests of consumers first, and the principles of the Government’s ‘Better Regulation’ agenda, having regard to the Regulators’ Code 4 which regulators must follow when developing policies and procedures that guide their regulatory activities. This includes making best use of contacts the service has with local businesses in order to provide help and support, to promote an open and constructive relationship and to signpost to other support networks.

Aim

The principal aim of the service is to maintain and where possible improve the health and wellbeing of residents, and visitors to South Tyneside by ensuring the safe production, processing, handling, storage, distribution and sale of food and feed in the borough and to deliver on the FSA’s main goals of ensuring food is what it says it is, enabling customers to make informed choices based on accurate and reliable information at the point of sale.

Objectives

• To meet the ‘standard’ set out in the FSA ‘Framework Agreement’.
• To ensure that food is safe to eat and free from extraneous matter.
• To contribute to a reduction in food-borne illness by improving food safety standards throughout the food chain.
• To investigate all notified cases of food-borne illness and outbreaks of food poisoning, in order to minimise risk of spread, through education, advice and exclusion if required.
• To maintain an accurate register of food businesses in South Tyneside.
• To carry out food hygiene inspections in accordance with the minimum inspection frequencies and to standards determined by the Food Standards Agency.
• To assess and determine all formal Approval applications of new and existing food establishments wishing to operate in the authority’s area, that are placing products of animal origin on the market and implement a series of risk-based interventions in accordance with the FSA ‘Food Law Code of Practice’.
• To keep accurate records of all food/feed safety enforcement activities and produce timely statutory returns as required by the FSA.
• To improve levels of compliance with food safety law within the business community, by targeting advice and enforcement to non-compliant businesses, and through the effective use of intelligence.
• To encourage standards of hygiene higher than the minimum acceptable in law by aspiring to have all food premises reach a 4 or 5 rating.
• To provide consumers with information in respect of hygiene standards in food businesses across South Tyneside, thereby enabling them to make informed choices about where they purchase or eat their food.
• To improve food safety practices of businesses and consumer knowledge, through the delivery of educational and promotional activities and the provision of advice, guidance, and signposting to partner agencies.
• To promote honest and informative labelling of food to help consumers make informed choices regarding the food they eat.
• To support business growth.
• To proportionately enforce relevant legislation in accordance with the principles of ‘Better Regulation’ and having regard to South Tyneside’s Food and General Enforcement Policies.
• To respond to food hazards/incidents in accordance with FSA guidance.
• To implement the FSA Food Hygiene Rating Scheme for Borough-wide score ratings based on hygiene standards and adopt the Brand standard guidance governing the protocols.
• To support regulatory compliance of food-based delivery services within the Council by offering support and direction as necessary.

South Tyneside Council’s Vision is:

Our South Tyneside – a place where people live healthy, happy, and fulfilled lives.

The Vision is based on five core ‘Ambitions’ which provide focus to help deliver the Vision over the next 20 years. These five Ambitions will guide everything we do.

We want all people in South Tyneside to be:

• Financially secure
• Healthy and well
• Connected to jobs
• Part of strong communities

And we want to support our residents by:

• Targeting support to make things fairer

The South Tyneside Strategy sets out what we will do, working closely with our residents and partners, over a three-year period, to contribute to the delivery of our 20 Year Vision and Ambitions.

This includes a clear set of priorities and a high-level action plan for each of the five ambitions.

Delivery of the Food and Feed Law Service Plan 2024-25 supports the Council’s ambitions by focusing on the following Council priorities in particular:

Healthy and Well

Priorities: Enable and Inspire our residents to live healthier lives. Ensure our communities can live safe from harm and access specialist support if they need it. Empower our residents with choice and independence to live longer, healthier lives in their homes and communities.

We do this by:

• Inspecting food/feed premises in accordance with Food/Feed Law Codes of Practice and guidance.
• Promoting the use of ‘Safer Food Better Business’ in all food premises.
• Inspecting and sampling food/feed and water to ensure its quality and safety.
• Investigating complaints about food and food premises.
• Investigating reported cases of food poisoning and taking action to prevent the spread of infection.
• Taking appropriate action in response to food incidents.
• Promoting key food safety messages (e.g. allergens), through a variety of media, from posting videos and streaming information on the Council’s social media and networking platforms to providing support and links via the Commercial Food and Safety team’s dedicated Council webpages.

Connected to Jobs

Priority: Open up opportunities for business growth and job creation

We do this by:

• Working with new businesses and event organisers to ensure that they understand and meet their statutory responsibilities before they begin to operate.
• Targeting training on key food safety matters to high-risk businesses.
• Providing food hygiene guidance in languages other than English as required.
• Working with new food business operators to help them understand and meet legal standards.
• Offering advice and guidance as part of routine inspections.
• Providing on-site advisory meetings for Food Business Operators.
• Providing Food Hygiene Rating Scheme (FHRS) rerating visits for Food Business Operators.
• Promoting business achievement through the Council’s website (Food Hygiene Rating Scheme).
• Establishing informal agreements with local businesses who export products of animal origin, to support them in their export trading arrangements following an increase in documentary and regulatory requirements thereby enabling them to maintain trade links with Europe (Export Health Certificates / Attestations).
• Supporting local businesses who export products containing products of animal origin through the issuing of Export Health Certificates to confirm they meet the import requirements of other non-European countries.

Targeting Support to Make Things Fairer

Priority: Establish what inequalities exist and how we are going to address them

We do this by:

• Undertaking intelligence-led and targeted interventions, which are both proactive and reactive, to help ensure a comprehensive and reliable food safety service which promotes confidence in regulation for businesses and consumers alike, with specialist and focused support where it is needed most, such as where English may not be a first language.

The Council’s priorities underpin the work of the Commercial Food and Safety team and the data, intelligence and insight obtained from consumers and businesses, whilst undertaking regulatory functions, helps to inform future workplans and to target proactive interventions with businesses.

Profile of South Tyneside

South Tyneside is a place with a rich cultural heritage, spectacular scenery, and a strong community spirit.

The borough includes the towns of South Shields, Hebburn and Jarrow and the villages of Boldon, Cleadon and Whitburn, sitting within the Tyne and Wear conurbation with the River Tyne boundary to the North and North Sea to the East. Further information on local health profiles can be viewed on the Local Health website.

The Commercial Food and Safety Team sits within the Council’s Environmental Health Service. The Lead Food Officer directly manages all officers currently, reporting to the Service Lead-Environmental Health. The Service Lead, Environmental Health reports to the Council’s Senior Manager - Public Protection.

The Food Service is responsible for all aspects of food hygiene and safety and infectious disease control. Responsibilities include:

• Food hygiene and Food Standards inspections and other interventions in accordance with the Food Law Code of Practice.
• Approval and inspection of food businesses handling food of animal origin covered by assimilated regulation (EC) Number 853/2004.
• Maintaining a register of food business establishments.
• Investigation of complaints about food and hygiene at food premises.
• Microbiological food and environmental sampling.
• Food sampling for compositional and labelling conformity.
• Investigation of complaints concerning labelling, allergen information and composition of food.
• Investigation and control of sporadic cases of food poisoning and food-borne disease and other relevant infections including the investigation and control of food poisoning outbreaks.
• Imported food control, sampling, and enforcement.
• Issue of Export Health Certificates / Attestations.
• Response to Food alerts (food hazard warnings / incidents) as required.
• Promotion of ‘Safer Food Better Business’.
• Promotion and operation of the National Food Hygiene Rating scheme.
• Examination and response to planning and licensing applications and Safety Advisory Group (SAG) consultations in relation to food premises and related food-safety activities in the Borough.

The official controls relating to feed functions, responsibilities and duties are delivered by a range of officers within the Council’s regulatory services, reporting to the Lead Feed Officer in Trading Standards. Responsibilities include:

• Feed inspections and other interventions in accordance with the Feed Law Code of Practice.
• Approval and inspection of feed businesses handling food for feed animals and pets, as well as those businesses selling, processing, and handling feed material for food-producing animals.
• Maintaining a register of feed business establishments for which official interventions are required.
• Investigation of complaints about feed and hygiene at feed premises.
• Microbiological feed and environmental sampling.
• Feed sampling for compositional and labelling conformity.
• Investigation of complaints concerning labelling and composition of feed.
• Official controls at the Port for imported feed material and products; sampling and enforcement.

Areas of added value include:

• Food Safety training and advice to support our local existing food businesses, new and proposed food businesses, and consumers on food safety matters where there is a recognised benefit of improvement in compliance with regulatory standards.
• Promotional and educational activities and initiatives based around food safety, food hygiene and food standards as led by the FSA or as part of regional initiatives or topic-based work, where a need has been identified.

As part of the provision of a complete service the team works in conjunction with the following partner organisations:

• UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) – provision of Food, Water and Environmental Microbiology Services to Local Authorities:
  
  Food, Water and Environmental Microbiology Laboratory, York
  York Biotech Campus,
  Block 10, Sand Hutton,
  York, YO41 1LZ
• The Council’s Appointed Public Analyst (Public Analyst Scientific Services) for the examination of food and feed samples and associated labelling and compositional testing:
  
  Public Analyst Scientific Services,
  i54 Business Park, Valiant Way,
  Wolverhampton, WV9 5GB
• The Animal Health and Plant Agency in Carlisle for queries relating to import/export trading arrangements.
• UK Health Security Agency for Infectious Disease and Food poisoning notifications:
  
  North-East Health Protection Team,
  Floor 1,
  Newcastle Civic Centre,
  Barras Bridge,
  Newcastle upon Tyne,
  NE1 8QH

On 16th April 2024 there were 1118 food premises in South Tyneside in the inspection programme. The number of each type of food business is as follows:

Of these 1177 premises registered in accordance with assimilated Regulation (EC) 852/2004, 6 are approved in accordance with assimilated Regulation (EC) 853/2004. One which was specifically approved by the FSA, has been brought back under local authority control as of February 2024, due to cessation of the raw meat handling operation on site.

The other major food businesses in the borough subject to Approval include two meat preparation manufacturers, one fish processing plant, one ready meal manufacturer, and one cold store.

Most food businesses are involved in catering and have commercial premises from which they trade, but increasingly many businesses in the retail and catering sectors are moving to domestic and on-line services. This means that many of these businesses, which are subject to the same regulatory compliance rules and checks, require greater resource to track and monitor such activities.

Dark kitchens, which are businesses operating under the radar of Food Authorities from domestic premises and non-registered food premises, continue to be a high- risk concern. Any complaints or intelligence identifying the existence of such premises are given high priority for intervention.

Ghost businesses trading under a variety of different names are also regulated effectively by maintaining the M3/Assure database and retaining a single registration and property index for all the trader names.

Service Delivery

The Environmental Health Service is based at South Shields Town Hall. The reception is open from 10.00 am to 3.00 pm Monday to Friday for public access but service requests and office-based duties are routinely conducted between 9am and 5pm. Many visits are made outside these times, including weekends, as determined by the needs of the service and the trading hours of particular food businesses as required under the Codes of Practice.

In view of the large size of the borough, officers will carry out site visits to take receipt of complaints and to fulfil service requests as necessary.

Out of hours contact is through a 24-hour call centre provided by the Council, issues requiring urgent attention are passed to designated officers for assessment and action as appropriate.

External Factors

Approximately 97.4% of the population in South Tyneside (based on 2021 census figures) have English as their first language and there is a significant contingent of Chinese, Turkish, Polish, Bengali, Bangladeshi and Thai Food Business Operators (FBOs) in the Borough. Between 2011 and 2021 census data shows a slight increase in the number of Eastern European/Polish and Portuguese speaking residents in the Borough.5 The service will work with all FBOs to help them comply with food hygiene law, including the provision of guidance interpreted into several languages, the provision of interpreters and facilitating local courses which have been delivered in several different languages.

In particular, the service continues to offer specific Allergen, colourings in food and cross-contamination advisory sessions to the Bengali and Bangladeshi communities to further support compliance with existing and new regulations in this respect.

Officers are kept abreast of emerging food and feed safety risks of imported food using monitoring software (Risk Likelihood Dashboard), through inland imported food checks during routine inspections and as part of the regional food and feed sampling programmes.

Seasonal or occasional food premises inspections include:

• Premises associated with tourism, such as caravan sites, ice cream sales and Bed and Breakfast establishments
• Farmers markets and food festivals
• Great North Run
• Local events using mobile food traders that are registered outside the Borough.

South Tyneside Council fully supports the approach to good enforcement practice outlined in the Regulators’ Code, which came into effect on 6 April 2014 under the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Act 2006. The Council's over-arching Enforcement Policy aims to deliver improved regulatory outcomes, particularly those related to health, safety, crime reduction, anti-social behaviour, environmental protection, and economic vitality, whilst reducing unnecessary burdens on compliant businesses. A specific Food and Feed Law Enforcement Policy is to be reviewed and updated in 2024-25 and will reinforce an enforcement approach that acknowledges risk and receptiveness to compliance.

The Service is currently ensuring that appropriate arrangements are in place for implementation and enforcement of elements of the new Food (Promotion and Placement) (England) Regulations 2021 from October 2024, restricting products by volume. The Regulatory Enforcement and Sanctions Act 2008 provides for a system of ‘civil sanctions’ in respect of ‘relevant offences.’ These new regulations make provision for the use of financial penalties as a means of enforcement and to discharge breaches, in lieu of prosecution. The use of civil sanctions will be addressed as part of the Food Enforcement Policy review.

Food Premises Interventions

At inspection, businesses are rated in respect of current adherence to food hygiene and food standards requirements. The Council uses the Food Hygiene Intervention Rating Scheme as detailed in the Brand Standard for the National Food Hygiene Rating Scheme and the Food Law Code of Practice to calculate risk and future inspection frequency.

This ensures that all premises are inspected at an appropriate minimum interval determined by their individual risk rating. This is based on the nature of food handling undertaken, the level of compliance with legal requirements and confidence in food safety management systems. This frequency varies from 6 monthly to three years depending on the assessed risk category:

The Food Hygiene Rating Scheme (FHRS) is operated for the benefit of the public purchasing food from premises in South Tyneside to enable them to make an informed choice based on the standard of hygiene.

Ratings of businesses within the scope of the scheme and registered in South Tyneside are given both a risk rating for inspection frequency and an FHRS rating. The inspection frequency rating is managed via the Environmental Health Information Management system M3 / Assure electronic database and from this the FHRS ratings are uploaded every 7-14 days onto the National Food Hygiene Rating database which is managed and overseen by the FSA as part of their scheme 6.

Food Premises inspections are carried out according to the Food Standards Agency’s Code of Practice. A range of interventions are available to fulfil the competent authority’s official controls obligations. The type of intervention depends on the risk category of the food business and is tailored to ensure an adequate assessment of the ongoing risk to food safety, by a competent officer authorised to carry out such assessment. The CoP includes an option to conduct alternative interventions for lower risk premises, verification and surveillance checks as well as non-official interventions such as survey visits or advisory visits.

Self-assessment questionnaires for Category E rated premises are used by South Tyneside Council for very low risk rated food businesses to monitor and gauge food risk activity and to determine whether the business needs to go back into the physical inspection programme. Targeted projects focused on specific business types and inherent food safety risks are conducted in these less frequently inspected premises to assess compliance and to obtain intelligence for future interventions on regulatory compliance.

Authorised Food Officers carry out verification and verification sampling visits as an alternative to full official control inspections for compliant C’s and D rated premises. This approach enables staff resources to be diverted to those higher risk premises not achieving good standards.

In 2023-24, audit based official control inspections for compliant higher risk premises were trialled. It was hoped that the approach would free up officer time on site, whilst maintaining integrity in the intervention programme and allowing a robust assessment of food safety practices for risk rating purposes.

Given the time and complexity of this intervention, it was deemed not suitable in the main and will not form part of the official intervention programme. Similarly, remote interventions were trialled during the pandemic and were not deemed appropriate as an alternative to an official on-site food hygiene intervention.

In line with the latest Codes of Practice (issued 2023) triage assessments and remote interventions for food standards will be considered for the 2024-25 programme to help address the backlog of food businesses that have not been inspected and to data cleanse the management database in preparation for data migration to the new food standards delivery model priority rating programme.

Where low-risk food premises, in scope to receive a questionnaire-based alternative intervention for the year, fail to return the completed form, or where a complaint or intelligence suggests food safety concerns are not being adequately controlled on site, then a physical visit or official control inspection will be carried out.

The Environmental Health Information Management system (M3 / Assure) is maintained to manage all food and feed premises records, all inspections, and other related activities. The software upgrade to Assure is progressing well with all business data now uploaded and accessible from this database. On-going functionality and data migration issues are being addressed with the software provider; however capability and cost has meant that many of the customer-facing and remote access options are not currently available. Due to product limitations and software upgrades, external reporting facilities for statistical returns and freedom of information requests are also being considered, to permit migration to the new Food Standards Delivery Model. Progress will be kept under close review to ensure the Council is able to deliver its statutory obligations in respect of this from March 2025. The team remains committed to the ongoing development of the Council’s website to further improve communication with food businesses and the public, providing easy access to forms and information frequently requested.

Food inspectors aim to undertake initial contact with new food businesses within 28 days from the trading start date with likely high-risk caterers or food handlers prioritised. Similarly where there has been a change in ownership and a likely change in operational practices, higher risk premises will be prioritised for inspection first.

New food businesses will be subject to a separate triage assessment for food standards to determine priority for an initial inspection, based on inherent risk. If the hygiene priority assessment identifies the business as high risk for food standards, an inspection will be conducted in conjunction with the hygiene inspection and the business will be allocated a priority rating for future inspections based on the findings from this intervention.

Lower ‘inherent risk’ premises identified from the triage questionnaire assessment, will be allocated an inspection date between 3-6 months from the date of opening/trading. Those confirmed as high priority from the inspection will then be scheduled further interventions/inspections based on a decision matrix, defining 1 of 9 intervention frequencies from the final compliance scores ranging from 1 month to 120 months. Businesses will be subject to reassessment and rescoring following each intervention.

Enforcement Action to Secure Compliance

Food businesses that fail to comply with significant statutory requirements are subject to secondary inspections and appropriate enforcement action in line with the Food Law Enforcement Policy and the General Enforcement Policy. This can include the service of Hygiene Improvement Notices where, for example, work detailed on a previous report has not been completed, or if serious concerns about food safety are identified during an inspection. Where conditions or practices pose an imminent risk to health, on the spot action may be taken, including immediate closure of the premises by the service of a Hygiene Emergency / Emergency Prohibition Notice.

Inspection of Specialised (Approved) Premises

These will be undertaken by appropriately trained and authorised officers in accordance with the Food Law, Code of Practice (England) June 2023 7. Currently the Lead Food Officer and two Environmental Health Officers are authorised to fulfil the statutory functions afforded to these food businesses. Any feed businesses requiring approval will be subject to the same under the direction of the Lead Feed Officer in Trading Standards.

Food complaints

Officers assess all complaints received in respect of food produced, stored, distributed, or sold in the South Tyneside area, including contamination, fitness, and durability, as well as food hygiene complaints and reported cases of food poisoning. Feed complaints are managed by the Lead Feed Officer in Trading Standards and allocated to appropriately trained and authorised food officers.

The Council operates an intelligence-led approach to enforcement and all complaints will be considered on a case-by-case basis. Relevant intelligence is uploaded on to the IDB Intelligence Database to disseminate information to other enforcement agencies and bodies who oversee regulatory functions in other food related fields, trans-border and internationally.

Localised food safety incidents that come to light may have more far-reaching consequences and are reported to the FSA’s National Food Crime Unit 8 or to the local NFCU Representative. Matters for further action will be investigated in accordance with work instructions and, where appropriate, the Council’s Enforcement Policy.

Investigations are usually made in consultation with the local authority with responsibility for the company concerned, the Primary Authority for the national food chain where applicable 9, or the manufacturing premises where the problem may have originated. This approach is intended to ensure that all parties are kept informed, any ‘due diligence’ defence is identified and that any further action taken is based on investigation findings and information received.

Complaints and requests for the food service remain relatively constant with 203 received in 2023-24 compared to 233 in 2022-23.

There remained a significant churn in new business registrations throughout 2023-24, with operators looking to take on previously closed food businesses but struggling to break into the market and cover the running costs of premises. Many such premises have changed hands more than twice in the year. The service received 159 new business requests in 2023-24 compared to 120 the preceding year. These functions will continue to be met within existing resources.

Home and Primary Authority Schemes

The Council is committed to developing good relationships with food businesses in the area and where appropriate establishing Home or Primary Authority Partnership agreements. Although there are currently no formal agreements in place the Council does operate an informal home authority arrangement with a large multi chain retail/catering business whose manufacturing site is in the Borough.

The Council recognises the importance and benefits to all parties and will actively seek opportunities to develop effective partnership agreements as they arise. The Council is also mindful of the potential impact on resources from this work and will endeavour to recover any additional costs through the permitted charging regime.

Officers regularly check the Better Regulation Delivery Office database of existing Primary Authority Partnerships and have regard to any inspection or sampling plans for premises operating in South Tyneside for which they have a duty to consult.

Officers contact the appropriate regulatory authority when considering enforcement action against food businesses outside of the Borough and food officers will also endeavour to meet requests from other local authorities for information or to support investigations in relation to food complaints arising from food produced in South Tyneside. Such matters will be fully investigated in partnership with the business concerned with a view to ascertaining the cause of the complaint and preventing a recurrence. Full reports are provided to the local authorities concerned.

Food Safety Advice and Training

The team provide advice and support to all food businesses, voluntary groups, charities, and members of the public. The service will target training on key food safety matters to specific groups within the food sector where a need has been identified. The service will also refer food businesses to appropriate training bodies to assist their staff to gain sufficient knowledge to achieve high standards of food hygiene at work, in the community and at home.

The Service regularly undertakes valuable work with food businesses in the borough to educate food business operators and food handlers on their obligations in respect of allergen labelling and controls. The service also aims to raise awareness and to provide suitable information to the public on this important subject. The service expects to continue to deliver this, and other priority food standards work into 2024-25, within existing service resource allocations.

Food and Feed Sampling

The Service operates a food/feed sampling and analysis programme to monitor food standards, both compositional and microbiological, in the local food/feed supply and will also assist with national surveillance programmes. The team will investigate food complaints made by the public or received from other intelligence sources as necessary, and food may be examined or analysed, and action taken as appropriate with the producer or retailer.

Informal Microbiological Sampling

Programmed sampling is carried out to:

• determine the microbiological safety of food produced and sold in South Tyneside,
• determine trends in microbiological quality,
• to ascertain whether handling, processing and storage techniques are satisfactory and
• to determine the effectiveness of cleaning and disinfection.

Samples are taken in accordance with agreed sampling parameters under the direction of the testing laboratory and their operating protocols depending on the type of sample, the source of the sample and the conformance criteria to regulatory standards. The sampling programme, which is a live document, is reviewed annually depending on budget allocations and local and national intelligence. It encompasses two elements:

• The South Tyneside sampling programme which comprises the sampling of high-risk food from producers or caterers in the area.
• The ‘NE Regional Food Sampling Group’ under the direction of the North-East Food Liaison Group and UKHSA’s Laboratory in York, establishes a programme of targeted sampling carried out in conjunction with six other local authorities in the region - Newcastle, Northumberland, North Tyneside, Gateshead, Sunderland, and Durham. The regional programme is intelligence-led with sampling focused on environmental factors or food/feed of interest at a national level, for example, new or novel foods coming onto the market, concerns raised about infectious disease and plausible sources of infection, imported food of national interest, or emerging risks identified from the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (a European electronic database set up to exchange information about serious risks detected in imported or exported food or feed and a useful intelligence tool to direct resource and attention).

All Microbiological food samples are collected and transported to York for examination by an appointed courier. All costs for this service are currently met from a UKHSA budget. All food and feed samples under-going analysis for non-microbiological contamination, are collected, and transported to the Metrology Laboratory in Gateshead, as a holding facility, for collection by the Public Analyst courier.

A compositional food and feed sampling budget has been allocated for 2024-25 to cover the cost of this service. Although previous years have seen a significant underspend of this budget, additional temporary resource to assist with administrative functions has allowed the dedicated sampling officer to undertake a full sampling programme in 2023-24, utilising the budget fully and identifying key areas for regulatory enforcement.

A grant for product specific Imported food samples identified as high risk by the Rapid Alert Food and Feed System has been submitted to the FSA to look at these foods circulating in the Borough. It is the intention that the dedicated Sampling/Regulatory officer will undertake this sampling work however there is risk that the officer may need to be directed back to essential administrative functions should it not be possible to secure permanent IT and admin. resource to support the wider team, leaving the proposed sampling programme unfulfilled.

Permanent administrative support for the team will be included in future staffing growth bids where those opportunities arise. In the interim, all temporary funding opportunities will be fully explored.

The costs for directed surveillance on specific feed sampling projects are generally funded by the North-East Trading Standards Association via government funding, freeing up the Council budget for local issues of concern. Currently no planned feed sampling has been identified for 2024-25.

It is expected that successful, local work on allergen enforcement will continue into 2024-25, with officers directed to undertake targeted interventions where there are concerns of poor performing businesses who may pose a risk to consumers.

The New Food Standards delivery model highlights allergen information for consumers as part of the risk/priority rating scores and will therefore dictate inspection frequency based on compliance. Regulatory resource and staff capacity to fulfil the new inspection programme for food standards will be monitored over the coming months as more businesses will be identified as requiring more frequent interventions. The likely significant under resource will be identified and presented in any potential new service growth bid.

Formal Examination and Analysis

Formal food samples are collected by an Authorised Officer of the Council and submitted for formal examination by a Food Examiner provided by the UKHSA laboratory at York. The Food Examiner then provides a written report on microbiological safety and compliance with food safety guidelines.

Should the need arise, food/feed samples or items requiring formal analysis in respect of their compositional safety or because of suspected contamination/substitution from a non-microbiological source, may be sampled, taken, or seized by an Authorised Officer and sent for formal testing and examination by the Council’s appointed Public Analyst (PA). The PA also issues a report on their findings and confirms whether the sample conforms to legal parameters, directing the Food/Feed Officer’s next course of action. Informal and formal samples are taken and handled in accordance with the team’s work instructions.

Reasons for analytical sampling are:

• to test for unauthorised constituents in food, or chemical or allergenic ingredient contamination of food, to protect health
• to identify physical contaminants and assess their potential risk factors and advise FBOs accordingly
• confirm speciation, adulteration, and substitution of ingredients with inferior products for financial or market advantage, promoting fair trade and deterring bad practice
• ensure that food is labelled and contains mandatory information enabling consumers to make informed choices based on accurate product information
• to assess product safety and food packaging materials in line with specified standards.

Water Samples

Water samples of public and school swimming pools are collected in conjunction with South Tyneside Council’s Leisure services team. Private commercial pools, hydro-therapy baths and water and ice samples from approved premises are also subject to microbiological examination on a scheduled basis.

All the above sampling activities are met from within existing resources, with the cost of informal food sample analysis funded by a credit system operated by the UKHSA, York laboratory. South Tyneside’s current and consistent allocation is 10382 credits for 2024-25, with the cost of food, water and environmental samples ranging from 10-35 credits depending on the complexity of the test. 65 pool water quality and hydrotherapy samples were taken in 2023-24 compared to 68 the previous year with 31 samples for drinking water used as an ingredient in food.

Control and Investigation of Outbreaks and Cases of Food Related Infectious Disease

The team work closely with the UK Health Security Agency, to investigate sporadic and linked cases of gastrointestinal illness and outbreaks.

In the event of sporadic cases this is usually achieved by completing telephone questionnaires with each case, requesting targeted information to identify the potential source of the infection, and providing advice to prevent further spread within the family household and through the community setting from employment contacts. This screening aims to identify potential outbreaks, helps to promote good hygiene practices, and enables analysis of information gained from the investigation.

Where telephone investigations are not feasible, officers carry out home visits or hospital visits to collect information from the case or close family.

Complex or potentially linked infections are investigated in association with neighbouring Local Authority officers where cases of infection cross local authority boundaries, and in conjunction with the Consultant in Communicable Disease Control / Consultant in Health Protection / Regional Epidemiologist / Unit Director at UKHSA, who act as the Council’s Proper Officer for the reporting, investigation and overseeing of notifiable diseases.

Outbreak investigations are carried out in accordance with the team’s work instructions, UKHSA’s Outbreak control guidelines for the specific disease and where appropriate the South of Tyne Outbreak Control Plan. Investigations of outbreaks can be extremely time consuming and take priority over other work.

Historical data indicates that typically 250 cases of gastrointestinal illness are formally notified to South Tyneside Council each year from laboratory test results. However there has been a small increase in confirmed food poisoning cases being notified by the UKHSA since the pandemic, with 279 for 2021/22 (including 212 Campylobacter infections), 337 official infectious disease notifications in 2022/23 (including 236 Campylobacter infections and 12 Yersinia) and 306 in 2023/24 (including 216 Campylobacter infections).

Food Safety Incidents

All food safety incidents and food alerts for action, as notified by the FSA are actioned in accordance with standard operating procedures, and the Food Law Practical Guidance (England) issued March 2021.

The team maintain a dedicated mailbox to receive all such notifications; this is regularly monitored during the day. Food Alerts for action are treated as high priority and are responded to within 24 hours, with any required action given priority. Where action is required, this is usually carried out in conjunction with members of the North-East Food Liaison Group to ensure consistency.

This work continues to be met from within existing resources. It is anticipated that between 1-3 national food safety incidents occur each year, requiring officer intervention on a large scale to contain and manage product recall and withdrawal of food from various catering and/or retail outlets in the Borough. Again, such incidents will be managed within existing resources. In 2023-24, one localised food safety incident was reported requiring officer intervention. This involved a Rapid Alert Food and Feed report, following Cadmium contamination in spring onions, which had been processed into spices and distributed to a local wholesaler. This was managed by the Food Business requiring no further official interventions by the Food Authority.

Liaison with Other Organisations

South Tyneside Council is a member of the NE Food Liaison Group (NEFLG), which meets approximately 5 times a year and the North-East Trading Standards Group (NETSA) which meets 4 times a year. These groups provide a forum for the exchange of ideas and new initiatives and to develop a consistent approach to all aspects of food/feed law enforcement and service delivery, as well as the development of guidance and best practice. It also provides a vehicle for liaison with other agencies (such as North-East Trading Standards Intelligence Team, Food Standards Agency, the National Food Crime Unit, UKHSA) and other groups such as the National Food Liaison Group and sub-regional food sampling groups. The NEFLG and NETSA also maintain strong links to other regional county groups in the North of England and national groups.

The Council is also represented on the North-East Public Protection Partnership (NEPPP), which maintains a more strategic overview of public protection in the region.

Food Safety Promotion and Non-Official Controls

South Tyneside Council having adopted the National Food Hygiene Rating scheme in 2012, continues to promote the benefits of a rating of 3-5 to food business operators and the public, during programmed visits and through promotional activity.

The effectiveness of the scheme is evaluated through periodic monitoring of a proportion of premises in the higher rating bands and promotion of those food businesses in local advertising campaigns. Conversely poor performing food business are often highlighted in local news feeds and social media sites outside the control of the Council, which require validation and verification of data.

Food Officer Competency

The competency of authorised food officers and quality of work undertaken by the Commercial Food and Safety Team are subject to checks and audits in accordance with the Food Law Code of Practice. Interventions and recorded work of all inspection staff is regularly monitored to ensure conformance with standard operating procedures and Food Law Guidance. Only staff deemed competent and subsequently authorised to undertake official controls are allocated these tasks.

New staff, or those that have been absent for a specific period are subject to supervision until deemed competent. The same applies to duly authorised consultants brought in to deliver aspects of the inspection programme. Competence criteria and additional training needs to ensure staff compliance with the Food Law Code of Practice will continue to be assessed by the Lead Food Officer, who will monitor the staffing requirements necessary to deliver the food law service plan and meet the official control duties laid out in the Food Law Code of Practice.

In-house training sessions, consistency, and peer review exercises, together with 1-2-1 management meetings, provide support and direction to staff on service delivery and ensures consistency of approach for businesses and customers across the region. Additional formal training is carried out in conjunction with the North-East Food Liaison Group, North-East Public Protection Partnership, the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health and the FSA and their associated training providers. To maintain competency and deliver certain official food/feed controls in accordance with the Codes of Practice, a minimum 20 hours of continued professional development is required, annually, 10 of which must be in the specialist field of service delivery.

In-house training is also provided in relation to information technology, the various electronic databases used by the food/feed team and the M3/Assure Environmental Health Information Management System, as necessary.

Feed Officer Competency

Training in essential core competencies is maintained through in-house training and in conjunction with various regional partner agencies and external training providers, to ensure authorised officers meet the competency requirements as detailed in the Feed Law CoP.

Training for officers undertaking feed hygiene duties is primarily co-ordinated through the North East Trading Standards Association (NETSA) for the region. This will continue throughout 2024/2025.

In addition, all feed hygiene enforcement officers have access to up-to-date reference material via dedicated websites, including Knowledge Hub forums and groups, Department for Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and the FSA. All officers engaged in feeding stuffs enforcement complete their mandatory 10 hours CPD each year. Officers who have been absent for more than 3 years will be subject to training and supervision until deemed competent in both food and feed duties.

Number of Food Premises

As of 31st March 2024, there were 1177 food premises on the South Tyneside food database (11 of which fall outside the inspection programme).

The table below shows the number of food business in each premises category. The numbers in brackets relate to March 2023 for comparison.

At 31st March 2024, the breakdown of South Tyneside food businesses, by risk rating category was as follows.

Ongoing data cleansing exercises and targeted administrative interventions during 2023-24, as a result of migration to the Assure database, has ensured more up-to-date details of traders operating in the borough. This will better facilitate the prioritisation and direction of resources going forward.

Food Standards

The FSA has revised the programmed intervention inspection frequency for food standards related activities in food businesses based on two separate risk elements. This new Food Standards Delivery Model came into effect with the new Codes of Practice issued in June 2023. Interim and phase-in arrangements have been agreed on a rolling programme, based on the software providers of the MIS systems and their ability to upgrade the databases for Local Authority data entry. These are scheduled for completion by the deadline of 31st March 2025. In the meantime, food standards inspections are being conducted and scheduled in accordance with the current planned inspection programme based on the level of risk and compliance in relation to labelling/advertising and the nutritional and compositional contamination of food products.

Those that are subsequently rated as ‘high priority’ using the new delivery model standard, are brought forward for further priority interventions in accordance with the new standard. Once data migration is complete, the priority inspection programme for food standards will be updated for future service plans.

Interventions for high risk/ high priority rated premises are restricted to l inspections, partial inspections and audits requiring physical inspections under the current and new intervention programme/ Lower risk rated / lower priority businesses may be subject to other official interventions such as analytical sampling, monitoring, surveillance or verification checks as part of the due interventions and non-official controls such as remote interventions or alternative strategy programmes such as interim assessment and monitoring of business activity to ensure the business remains in its appropriate priority risk rating category.

Feed premises

Businesses (including primary producers) supplying, handling, selling, transporting and distributing feed products for food animals, are subject to inspection and official controls as defined in the FSA Feed Law Codes of Practice and associated guidance, in the same way as food for human consumption 10. Interventions and enforcement action are conducted in much the same way by authorised feed officers within the Commercial Food and Safety Team, under the direction of the Lead Feed Officer in the Trading Standards Team.

At 31st March 2024, the breakdown of feed businesses by category, in the area was as follows:

There are currently no feed businesses in South Tyneside subject to Approval controls for the operation of high-risk feed activities. Based on revisions to the Feed Codes of Practice risk rating and inspection programme, those lower risk rated feed businesses falling into the R13 and R14 categories, which are current members of a recognised assurance scheme, are subject to the national targeted monitoring strategy (NTMS). This means that only a percentage of these inspections are required each year based on the proportion of total premises numbers within these categories in the Borough.

Feed inspections and sampling are carried out in conjunction with the national feed surveillance programmes based on priorities identified nationally, emerging risks and intelligence from a variety of sources. Funding for much of the feed inspection programme is supplemented through the North-East Trading Standards Association and central government funding.

Currently there are 8 arable and livestock farms registered with Type 1 recognised assurance schemes within the Borough. Based on the numbers of feed businesses, the priorities of the feed inspection programme in accordance with the Feed Law Codes of Practice, and regional surveillance recommendations, approximately 6 premises are subject to routine official feed inspections/interventions each year.

Food Import Official controls fall to the Port Health Authority to manage and oversee in accordance with the Official Food and Feed Control Regulations. These are managed by Tyne Port Health Authority under the direction of North Tyneside Council.

Inland imported food and feed controls fall to the Authority within whose boundary the food/feed resides when subject to the official control. In the case of Imported Feed coming into the Port of Tyne, the responsibility for official controls rests with the riparian port Authority, which in this case is South Tyneside.

Regular check ins are conducted with the Port’s Head of Operations to assess future intentions regarding feed import plans. Incoming ship manifests (forwarded from the shipping agents) are regularly monitored, to check container consignments of feed and potential feed material coming into the Port. No known feed imports requiring official controls have been identified in the last 36 months and therefore there has not been a need for more directed resource to officiate the necessary feed controls. As a result the service has reverted to importer shipping manifest checks alone as a means of monitoring activity, rather than a combination of both manifest and Destin8 checks (a costed maritime cargo processing electronic database), to assess the nature and volume of imported feed materials/products.

Interventions at Food Establishments 2023/2024

Food Hygiene Interventions undertaken in 2023/24 (by category of premises) are as follows; The figures include all official interventions, but do not include revisits, sampling visits, surveillance checks or electronic remote interventions or advisory visits.

A number of businesses were closed during this period and had not reopened by the end of the accounting year. Any that have reopened have been rolled over into next year’s inspection programme. In addition to the programmed inspections, 115 new business inspections were completed this year compared to the previous year.

Number of Revisits in 2023/24

43 revisits and 11 hygiene rerating assessments were recorded for food hygiene and safety related matters, to check for compliance and to determine the need for more formal intervention.

Requests for Service

Requests for service include concerns regarding the condition of premises, or food with microbiological or physical contamination.

(Figures in brackets relate to service requests for 2022-23 for comparison purposes)

Enforcement Action taken 2023/24 for Food Hygiene and Standards contraventions

Written Warnings

106

Informal Notices

16

Hygiene Improvement Notices

13

Standards Improvement Notices

2

Hygiene Emergency Prohibition Notices

0

Remedial Action Notices

1

Seizure, Detention, Voluntary surrender of food

9

Simple Cautions

0

Prosecutions

0

Inspection letters and reports for high-risk premises, detailing a schedule of works to aid future compliance and to identify the non-conformities witnessed during the inspection, are generated for all food business operators following a full inspection. Business operators are given the opportunity to respond to the inspection report and to request further advice by returning an operator’s response form, either in a prepaid envelope or electronically. This is considered an effective tool for communicating and improving the quality of the service.

Food standards interventions are generally conducted alongside the food hygiene inspection where businesses are due or overdue in the programme. Reduced staffing resource in recent years, compounded by an increased focus on the hygiene programme by regulators, has meant that there have been no significant inroads to reducing the backlog of overdue inspections. Additionally some food standards sampling intervention programmes that were planned for 2023-24, to address some of the backlog, were shelved, as resources were diverted to clearing the backlog of D-rated hygiene interventions post pandemic. The priority inspection programme for food standards will be reviewed once the FSA has rolled out the revised intervention frequency and the data imported and mapped to existing risk rating scores (scheduled for June/July 2024). A renewed programme of targeted interventions will be mapped, considering existing resource and targeting the highest priority risk rated premises based on the new criteria.

Interventions at Feed Establishments 2023/2024

Feed Hygiene Interventions undertaken in 2023/24 (by category of premises) in accordance with the FSA’s national enforcement priorities for animal feed and primary food production and the priority interventions proposed by NETSA:

The cost of living and energy crises have compounded the effect of the covid pandemic, with many surviving small caterers and retailers struggling to open or remain viable during 2022-23 and 2023-24. The food business landscape, including patterns of trading times, have changed significantly, with increased potential for food fraud and the introduction of shortcuts in food safety processes. Many businesses have ceased to trade on a permanent basis, whilst others have stopped trading altogether or have adopted new business models, including providing takeaway and delivery services.

Hygiene interventions at D- rated premises to help clear the backlog following the FSA’s priority inspection roadmap, have been quite successful, utilising external consultants to conduct official verifications. Findings from these verifications, found a much larger proportion of businesses requiring full inspections as a result of deterioration in standards, assumed due to the reduced face-to-face interaction during the pandemic.

Fortunately the backlog has been addressed in the main for this specific risk-rated business sector, however with reduced resources to deliver the programme going forward into 2024-25, it is anticipated that further prioritisation will be required, and will create backlog again into 2025-26.

Post Covid many of the Borough’s takeaway establishments now operate restricted opening times such as evenings only and/or weekends. These new ways of working will inevitably impact delivery of the inspection programme as there is no corresponding reduction in demand for services during regular daytime hours.

The increase in targeted interventions in the highest risk rated businesses in 2023-24 has shown an overall decrease in the numbers of those rated as a B from 40 to 25. Overall compliance rates have also shown an improvement from 91% in 2022/23 to 92.7% in 2023/24.

However there has been an increase in non-compliant D rated premises and an increase from 9 re-rating requests in 2022-23 to 17 in 2023-24, highlighting the importance of regular interventions in all risk rated categories.

In this year’s service plan staff resources will continue to be focussed on non-compliant or repeat poor performing food businesses, look to ensure that any backlogs from previous years are prioritised and to utilise the range of official interventions for better performing businesses, to free up officer time. A large proportion of C rated food businesses were subject to a full inspection on their last intervention, affording a verification check for those that fall in scope and are rated a 4 or a 5 for their food hygiene rating score this year.

Target performance indicators were established to monitor trends in compliance to help focus service delivery. Unfortunately, it has not been possible to generate planned quarterly reports due to changes in the reporting capability of the Assure MIS database. However the indicators will remain, enabling a benchmark to be set for determining adequacy of resources for basic service delivery.

1. To report on percentage of A, B and non-compliant C and D rated food hygiene inspections for 2023-24 with a target rate of 100% achievement.
2. Food businesses that have been inspected and awarded a 0-2 hygiene rating to be subject to appropriate follow up enforcement action to secure improvements. Target rate of 100%.
3. To report on the percentage of food businesses in South Tyneside achieving broad compliance against a baseline of 84.7% for 2021/22, 91% for 2022/23 and 92.7 % for 2023-24.

The FSA is the Central Competent Authority (CCA) responsible for the delivery of official food and feed controls in England, Northern Ireland, and Wales. During the pandemic quarterly statistical returns termed ‘temperature checks,’ were requested from Food Authorities, on delivery of the official food controls, as part of the statutory single data set returns. These are currently under review, and it is anticipated that twice yearly reports will now be required until such time as revisions to the new Food Hygiene Delivery Model (proposed for roll-out in 2025-26) are completed, and a replacement for the Local Authority Enforcement Monitoring System (LAEMS), is implemented. These are all still subject to review.

Following the pandemic there has been a large turnover in new businesses starting up and closing in South Tyneside, which is extremely resource intensive to manage. This, coupled with operators taking advantage of planning law changes which permit retailer units to be converted to food establishments/cafes without a material change of use, has seen many new businesses open up in unsuitable locations or without safeguards in place.

National shortages of competent food handlers in the industry, energy cost pressures and a lack of turnover have seen many food businesses close, with the escalating costs of essential repairs and structural maintenance being handed onto new operators hoping to break into the market. Additionally allergen awareness and information and labelling requirements have added to the pressures on businesses, resulting in greater officer resource to address business compliance and an increase in enforcement action.

Standard Priorities are as follows:

• Ensure adequate arrangements are in place to deliver the Food Hygiene Inspection programme 2024-25, including targeted interventions to address the backlog of inspections carried forward from 2023-24.
• Deliver the Food Hygiene Inspection Programme for 2024 -25 and include for the delivery of more risk-based, proportionate, targeted, and cost-effective Official Controls in the lower risk rated premises.
• Ensure adequate arrangements are in place to deliver the current Food Standards Inspection programme for 2024-25 based on the existing risk rating model and to ensure staff are trained and are able to deliver interim arrangements during the transition period with a view to adopting and implementing the new Food Standards Delivery Model from 1st April 2025. This is incumbent on the software provider upgrading Assure to take account of the changes, reconfiguring the database and re-importing/uploading the business details and datasets to the new priority risk rating system, and ensuring functionality prior to implementation.
• Clear the backlog of unrated food standards inspections, priority triaging all new businesses from 1st April 2024 specifically for food standards and feeding this information into the new database in time for the 2025-26 inspection programme.
• Ensure adequate arrangements are in place to deliver the Feed Inspection programme for 2024-25 and ensure staff are given sufficient instruction and training to meet the competency requirements to deliver the required feed official controls in South Tyneside and take appropriate enforcement action where necessary. Staff resource will be reviewed over 2024-25 to monitor staff capability to continue to fulfil these statutory functions. Succession planning arrangements for the current Lead Feed Officer are now in place, with the upskilling of an existing Fair-Trading Officer to a Trading Standards Officer, over the next 3-4 years. This post will ensure the agricultural competency requirements are met to take on the Lead Feed Officer Position when the existing post holder retires.
• Maintain competency to provide Export Health Certification services for businesses exporting to EU and other third Countries. The ongoing training requirements/ assessment criteria afforded to Food Competent Certifying Officers to deliver Official Controls for the export of fish and egg products to Europe, will be kept under regular review against consideration of impact on other priorities for the Food service.
• To review and update all food related work instructions / policies following changes to legislation and operating practices (including the Food Enforcement Policy).
• To ensure implementation of the requirements of the FSA’s revised ‘Regulating our Futures’ programme to modernise food safety enforcement and ensure it is sustainable for the future.
• To adopt the additional requirements of the FSA competency framework and ensure sufficiently competent and authorised staff are maintained within the food team to deliver the required official controls in accordance with the Codes of Practice.
• To continue to monitor the resource provided to food Safety enforcement to ensure it is adequate to meet the demands of the service, including carrying out new food business interventions in a timely manner.
• To continue to provide effective food and feed registration interventions prioritising high-risk and non-compliant premises.
• To continue to carry out follow-up interventions to 0, 1 and 2 food hygiene rated premises to secure long-term improvements in food safety standards.
• To carry out food standards priority interventions in those businesses identified or rated as high priority in accordance with the new food standards delivery model.
• Supported by an updated Food Enforcement Policy, including arrangements for the use of new food sanctions, to continue to use the full range of enforcement tools available to protect the safety, health and welfare of visitors, residents, and workers within the borough and to support compliant businesses.
• To continue to participate in the National Food Hygiene Rating Scheme.
• Improve ‘self-help’ information available to businesses/public.
• Sampling food, water, and environmental conditions in accordance with the agreed NE Food Liaison Group / UKHSA sampling programmes.
• Investigate notifications of infectious disease / suspected outbreaks as appropriate.
• Continue working with businesses to promote understanding of requirements of the Food Information Regulations 2014 and their legal obligations in respect of allergen information provision.
• Maintain provision of food safety training and advice for targeted food businesses on key food safety matters, including allergens.
• Greater targeting of enforcement at higher risk businesses and those persistently failing to comply.
• Provide reliable and accurate information to consumers on food safety standards in food premises in the Borough via the Food Hygiene Rating Scheme.

Additional priorities for 2024-25

• To utilise any grant funds available to support the food sampling budget in respect of inland imported food, and feed back intelligence to the FSA to better future target border control post checks.
• Due to reduced staff resource, to re-prioritise delivery of official controls for the food hygiene and standards inspection programme ensuring focus is targeted to maximise impact on improvements in compliance and food safety.
• To implement transition measures for the priority risk-based, intelligence-driven model for food standards and continue working with the MIS software provider, NEC, to ensure the database is ready to deliver the new priority inspection programme from April 2025.To ensure better use of the Intelligence Database to further inform and direct official control interventions and provide useful intelligence to other agencies for action.
• To maintain enhanced monitoring of imported feed activity through the Port to assess the need for more official controls and subsequent intervention.
• To review service delivery processes and utilise the range of existing and new official controls interventions to better manage the service’s resource. For example, increasing the use of ‘Alternative Enforcement Strategies,’ remote intervention strategies, and non-official controls detailed in the revised CoP such as environmental sampling and spot checks on core food safety hazards in sector specific premises, for compliant and lower risk rated businesses.
• To adopt, implement and maintain the Food Standards Agency’s new competency framework and ensure staff are trained and authorised according to the new requirements.
• To maintain the Environmental Health Information Database and the transition to Assure to ensure reliable and accurate statistical records are provided for freedom of information requests, data returns to enforcement/ reporting agencies and to internal departments, on the activities of the food/feed law service. This will require ongoing and refresher training to standardise data entry.
• To utilise social media and other information sources to better inform the service of changes in business activities in the Borough and the changing nature of some business operations. Regular integration of HMRC import data, Aggregator platforms, social media advertising of home or remote food and feed operations and engaging and networking with other stakeholders and enforcement agencies, such as the National Food Crime Unit’s North-East representative, Gangmaster Labour Abuse Authority representatives, the Public Analyst, colleagues from neighbouring Local Authorities helps identify local businesses/ commercial sectors looking to exploit food/feed opportunities under the regulatory radar.

Programmed Food Hygiene Interventions 2024-25

The following table details the intervention programme as required by the CoP and based on current staff resources and the level of service provision anticipated. Additional service demands in public health, beauty sector regulation and Product Placement legislation may all have a significant impact on hygiene interventions in the coming year and will need to be kept under review in light of Council priorities.

It is anticipated that the Service will receive approximately 140 new or amended Food Premises Registrations in 2024-25, as a result of changes to business ownership and new businesses applications. The service aims to assess/inspect these businesses within 28 days of receiving the application and the business opening. Those confirmed as low risk, or those having received an advisory visit/intervention prior to opening and deemed low risk/compliant will be scheduled an inspection within 56 days.

It is estimated that at least 40-50 revisits will be required during 2024-25 based on previous years’ activity and approximately 5-10 food hygiene re-rating requests.

Visits will also be carried out following receipt of complaints from the public. In 2023-24 approximately 250 service requests were received relating to food premises and feed handling matters. It is expected that a similar number of service requests will be received in 2024-25 and will be met within existing resource.

Demand, in the form of requests for advice, is likely to remain stable in the current year. Business support for new and existing businesses, sign posting, and targeted advice is provided free, electronically. Businesses requesting a more detailed consultancy service can book an advisory visit, which is a paid for service. This can cover a range of food / feed safety / hygiene related matters, as well as nutritional / labelling / compositional standards.

Routine food safety interventions are used as an opportunity to raise awareness of health issues in relation to food to promote healthier food choices for consumers and encourage the use of sustainable and locally sourced food supplies.

The service is an active member of the South Tyneside Open Collective Good Food Project currently working with a range of stakeholders to develop policies looking to achieve a healthier, sustainable, and more equitable food system in South Tyneside. From increasing the use of sustainable and recyclable food packaging to utilising and promoting local food growing initiatives and local produce providers to feed into the wider food chain.

Focused ‘hygiene audit’ interventions were trialled as an alternative to full inspections in line with the CoPs. Again completing these interventions effectively were not considered an effective use of time and are not being considered as part of the official intervention programme for 2024-25.

Further training for existing food business operators on food safety management systems based on HACCP principles and effective implementation of Safet Food Better Business for retailers is being considered as a targeted intervention for low risk food businesses this year together with a focused food standards intervention.

It has been some 16 years since ‘Safer Food Better Business’ was implemented as a means of assisting business compliance with legal obligations in relation to HACCP- (a complex set of food safety requirements) and remains the most effective tool for smaller and lower risk catering operations to demonstrate due diligence in this respect. Officers will continue to use this and informal agreements to address allergen information in adequacies as a first stage to regulatory enforcement.

Food sampling and test purchasing allergen free meals has been used to identify non-conformance and potential high-risk activities requiring formal action. As a result, improved awareness and compliance has been identified in these premises and as a consequence the service will continue to use this regulatory enforcement approach to further drive-up compliance rates in respect of allergen hazards.

Programmed Food Standards Interventions 2024-25

Interventions in A rated premises, and any found to be high priority from a triaged inherent risk assessment needing an inspection within 1-3 months, will be undertaken in 2024-25. Targeted interventions in low risk rated convenience stores is proposed, with a focus on labelling of prepacked products, unauthorised food items / novel food supplies and product supply chains and traceability. B rated premises will be subject to full inspections in line with due hygiene interventions.

Programmed Feed Interventions 2024-25

The FSA, working in conjunction with the Trading Standards Institute, coordinates a national project to deliver a feed intervention programme. As part of a collaborative approach, the North-East Trading Standards Association (NETSA) has been awarded funding to deliver interventions to priority feed premises for 2024/25 through collaborative working. South Tyneside’s share of the funding is approximately £1600 and is to be used for the purposes of targeted intervention visits. This work will be undertaken at a mix of farm and non-farm premises. Non-farm premises include supermarkets that provide surplus food into the feed chain and a business which transports feed and feed products.

Quarterly visits to the Port are also being reviewed in light of the new Border Control Post in North Tyneside, and an informal agreement has been established which will ensure that all feed imports through the port are initially actioned by Port Health as part of the ‘Import of products, animals, food and feed system’ (IPAFFS) pre-notification process, before referring to South Tyneside for official intervention when necessary. Currently the ship manifests are still subject to monitoring by Food and Trading Standards Officers to assess container imports of feed. No consignments were identified in 2023-24, indicating that this Port is unlikely to become a significant Port for this material such that there would be a need to upscale the staffing resource for Official Feed controls in this area.

Quarterly visits to the Port are no longer undertaken as funding for de minimus port functions was withdrawn by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in 2022. Informal arrangements remain in place to maintain contact with the Port Operations Manager for the determination of any potential activity that will require the undertaking of official controls by South Tyneside Council. 11

Following BREXIT, DEFRA had anticipated that activity at North Tyneside’s Port would increase significantly, potentially impacting on the Port of Tyne in South Tyneside, and as such, commissioned a structural upgrade of the facilities in North Tyneside to an official Border Control Post (BCP). Currently, the entry of low, medium, and high-risk food, feed, plant materials and animal imports through this Port, requires Port Health to oversee all associated official checks and controls.

DEFRA has now assessed port traffic nationally and consignments in/out of Europe and Northern Ireland (NI) and has recently developed a Border Target Operating Model to reduce the administrative burdens and physical checks required on imports at the port of entry. The new Border Target Operating Model (TOM) came into effect from October 2023.

From 31st January 2024 imported products of animal origin (POAO) must be accompanied by a health certificate from the Country of Origin and be pre notified on the government’s import of products, animals, food, and feed system (IPAFFS). A central government hub has been carrying out approximately 10% documentary checks of selected POAO goods and any issues or errors have been shared with importers and Port Health Authorities.

From 31st April 2024 Tyne Port Health is responsible for checks of all POAO goods where goods are officially classified medium/high-risk, while surveillance work continues for low risk import goods. A percentage of 1-30% of consignments categorised as Medium and high risk POAO goods will be subject to a physical and phytosanitary inspection as well as 100% documentary checks to validate the product and its health certificate status.

The Port of Tyne is not a Border Control Post, and so only containerised or bulk feed materials are likely to enter the south side of the port. Based on manifest checks and regular contact with the Port, no feed imports have been identified for 6 years. However recent climate conditions have affected the production of grain in the UK and the impact of global markets have reduced the potential cost of grain imports. As a consequence there may be more interest in grain importation for animal feed in the coming years and so this situation will be kept under constant review.

Resources

Financial Allocation

Total expenditure on the food service is relatively stable, however it is acknowledged that additional resources will be required to deliver the backlog of interventions for 2024-25, alongside meeting the existing statutory official controls functions. The increased complexity of managing and maintaining two separate programme delivery models for hygiene and standards will also impact front line service provision if specialist business support is not forthcoming, following departure of a temporary IT Support Technician brought in to help with the MIS move from M3PP to Assure. Building and maintaining officer competency specifically in relation to new food standards legislation remains a focus for 2024-25.

Outsourcing some of the lower risk programmed interventions will help ensure that the service directs internal resources to high-risk, intelligence-based intervention strategies and customer service requests. Additional funding streams will need to be identified in order to facilitate this.

Staffing Allocation 2023-24

In 2023-24 the staffing allocation for food safety matters comprised:

5.0 Full Time Equivalent (FTE) Authorised Food Officers to deliver the Food Law Service. In addition a Fixed-term Technical Assistant post was retained, providing much needed administrative support to the team and to lead on data migration and upgrade of the MIS database for the Commercial Food and Safety functions primarily. A 0.25 FTE consultant was employed to help address the significant backlog of low-risk interventions.

Staffing Allocation 2024-25

Funding has been obtained to extend the Fixed-term Technical Assistant contract for a further 3 months. This should help imbed the transition of the M3PP MIS system and Assure database and provide vital internal training to key system users.

Funding to provide a dedicated business / technical support post (1 x FTE) on a permanent basis is to be considered as part of staffing growth proposals for the Environment Service. This post is needed to support the vast and complex administrative functions of the team and requires a specialist working knowledge of the existing and new Management Information Databases, substantially limiting opportunities for temporary back-fill from within existing business support.