UK food hygiene disaster
R.A.McCartney | 11.06.2011 15:34 | Analysis | Health | Other Press
Food hygiene regulations are being almost universally ignored by vendors of take-away foods. This could lead to an outbreak of highly contagious and lethal diseases.
The E. coli outbreak in Germany is now thought to have been caused by contaminated bean sprouts. However, Professor Hugh Pennington (emeritus professor of bacteriology at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland) said on BBC News 24 that it required “only a very few” bacteria to cause an infection. Both the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Health Protection Unit, and the Food Standards Agency confirmed to me that it, and other lethal diseases, could be spread by practises which are common among sellers of take-away foods.
Tests have shown that a large proportion of the UK population do not wash their hands after using the toilet. Thus bacteria such as the new lethal strain of E. Coli could be on their hands. When they handle money, they can transfer the bacteria to that, and it can survive for up to 48 hours on the money. Most vendors of take-away foods do not have a single person dedicated to handling the money. Any food seller who handles the money can transfer the contamination to the food if they handle it without using a glove or washing their hands (this is especially common at places which sell sandwiches, kebabs or falafels, hot dogs, or burgers.). Even at places where they avoid handling the food itself, they do things such as gripping the food lid on both sides before pressing it down on the food & sealing the container. This contaminates the food. Warm, moist food provides ideal conditions for the bacteria to multiply and infect people.
The person I spoke to at the Food Standards Agency said that inspections by Environmental Health Officers would catch such practises. However I have been unable to find any place selling take-away food in London which DOESN’T ignore the food hygiene regulations.
The news media should have taken this opportunity to warn the population of the danger, but they have not. This week You And Yours, the flagship consumer affairs program on Radio 4, lauded the increase in the availability and variety of “street food”. This was a plug for a book on the subject, and failed to mention the danger from lax hygiene. Government agencies which are supposed to warn people of health dangers also failed to seize the opportunity. On the Andrew Marr Show on BBC1, the head of the Health Protection Agency assured people that E. Coli would not be a problem in this country, and that people should “continue with their normal hygiene regime”. If food vendors do that, we are headed for a potential disaster.
Many experts have been warning for decades that it’s only a matter of time before all anti-biotics are rendered useless by the spread of anti-biotic resistance. NDM-1 antibiotic resistance is already established in the general population of Delhi, and seems certain to spread further. We should not wait for lax hygiene to cause a major outbreak of disease in this country. People should be warned of the dangers. The food hygiene laws also need to be rigorously enforced. That required more inspectors and more prosecutions.
Tests have shown that a large proportion of the UK population do not wash their hands after using the toilet. Thus bacteria such as the new lethal strain of E. Coli could be on their hands. When they handle money, they can transfer the bacteria to that, and it can survive for up to 48 hours on the money. Most vendors of take-away foods do not have a single person dedicated to handling the money. Any food seller who handles the money can transfer the contamination to the food if they handle it without using a glove or washing their hands (this is especially common at places which sell sandwiches, kebabs or falafels, hot dogs, or burgers.). Even at places where they avoid handling the food itself, they do things such as gripping the food lid on both sides before pressing it down on the food & sealing the container. This contaminates the food. Warm, moist food provides ideal conditions for the bacteria to multiply and infect people.
The person I spoke to at the Food Standards Agency said that inspections by Environmental Health Officers would catch such practises. However I have been unable to find any place selling take-away food in London which DOESN’T ignore the food hygiene regulations.
The news media should have taken this opportunity to warn the population of the danger, but they have not. This week You And Yours, the flagship consumer affairs program on Radio 4, lauded the increase in the availability and variety of “street food”. This was a plug for a book on the subject, and failed to mention the danger from lax hygiene. Government agencies which are supposed to warn people of health dangers also failed to seize the opportunity. On the Andrew Marr Show on BBC1, the head of the Health Protection Agency assured people that E. Coli would not be a problem in this country, and that people should “continue with their normal hygiene regime”. If food vendors do that, we are headed for a potential disaster.
Many experts have been warning for decades that it’s only a matter of time before all anti-biotics are rendered useless by the spread of anti-biotic resistance. NDM-1 antibiotic resistance is already established in the general population of Delhi, and seems certain to spread further. We should not wait for lax hygiene to cause a major outbreak of disease in this country. People should be warned of the dangers. The food hygiene laws also need to be rigorously enforced. That required more inspectors and more prosecutions.
R.A.McCartney
Comments
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Rabbbit Burger Addict
12.06.2011 05:48
Gotta say I am in love my with my local take-away, it's cheap, tasty, I'm a skinny bugger that doesn't get enough calories or carbs and I'm on benefits
But I've been noticing this more and more as if the fast-food sector have become complacent. Especially once they've been awarded one of those meaningless 'Food Safety Hygiene 4* Certificates" from the local council. Surprised there hasn't been many more big bug outbreaks from take-aways, maybe they are on the way as you say. The touching of Salad etc and final additions, handling cash, answering phones are very high risk.
People should say: Oi! that's my food! and refuse to pay, that'll teach em, then send Environmental Health in (if they bother to show up) to observe them putting people's health at risk for themselves.
Steve Tomato Picker
Organised campaign refusing to pay for contaminated food
15.06.2011 14:26
My contact at the Food Standards Agency got back to me since my original post. She said this was only one of the serious risks of food contamination which they were aware of, inspectors couldn’t check for everything, they have a limited budget, and they have run campaigns to raise awareness of the issue. None of this excuses the fact that they failed to use the publicity surrounding the E. Coli outbreak to raise awareness of the risks of food vendors ignoring food hygiene laws. The media would and the public would most likely have been very receptive to the message.
“People should say: Oi! that's my food! and refuse to pay”. Interesting suggestion. The Food Standards Agency woman said something similar. One or two people doing it wouldn’t have much effect, but if, say, thirty people walked into the shop over a two or three days & did the same thing, it might start to have an impact on that particular shop. Catch these on video & you could post it on Youtube. You might even get TV people to broadcast it & report the issue. Unfortunately I’m not in a position to organise something like this, but a relatively small group might be able to raise awareness of the issue & mobilise people to demand higher standards of food hygiene.
R.A.McCartney
More reports on danger of human-to-human spread of E. Coli
30.07.2011 13:52
"... a woman working in a kitchen of a catering company near Frankfurt, in the state of Hesse, became infected with the bacterium after eating sprouts and passed it on to 20 people she prepared food for".
"Is Europe in for a summer of E. coli poisoning? " New Scientist 21 July 2011
"... the bacterium has been knocking around Germany for a decade, and may still lurk in people who are symptom-free.
"'Considering the large number of summer festivals in the EU, with sometimes inadequate food hygiene standards', people should remember 'the need for proper hand washing'"
R.A.McCartney