Food hygiene standards in Luton are declining says council

Economic stresses are affecting staffing levels, cleaning, structural maintenance and pest control
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Food hygiene standards in Luton have declined, according to a report to the borough council’s overview and scrutiny board.

Economic stresses are impacting businesses and affecting staffing levels, cleaning, structural maintenance and pest control, said the report.

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“Luton’s growing population has seen an increase in the number of food businesses, which is putting pressure on the town’s regulatory services.

Food hygiene ratingsFood hygiene ratings
Food hygiene ratings

“Resource levels, particularly over food standards and food hygiene delivery, need to be reviewed so they can be met effectively.

“More complex food businesses are opening up in Luton, against a backdrop of challenging enforcement and cases to investigate, some of which have national and international implications.

“The commercial regulatory team worked extremely hard throughout the pandemic, providing good service delivery and building up positive working relationships with many registered food businesses.

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“Appropriate enforcement action is taken where it is required to protect public health and safety, and for flagrant disregard, food fraud or continual poor performance and standards of hygiene.”

Labour Farley councillor Mahmood Hussain told the board: “We’ve seen too many businesses closed during the last ten years, and they still continue to operate from the same premises.

“All the breaches I read about in the newspaper are very serious indeed,” he said. “There should be serious penalties so they can’t operate in the food industry in the future.”

Commercial regulatory manager Liz Bailey explained: “It may seem the same business, but it might be the ownership has changed. There are games played.

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People will suddenly become the new owner and register in their name. There could be someone in the shadows, who’s the food business operator.”

Liberal Democrat Barnfield councillor David Franks asked: “Is some of the new complex food businesses ‘challenging enforcement’ to do with import and export at the airport?”

Ms Bailey replied: “The airport’s not classed as an official food port, so we don’t have the same level of activity there as Heathrow would.

“That’s a business decision for the airport on whether it would want to become a food port and we’d need a whole function serving that.

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“Around complexity, it’s more on the food standards side. It’s another statutory service and centred around the quality of food, the description, the content, allergens and fraud.

“When you’re dealing with food fraud, there’s much investigation work and it can have national implications, particularly if you’ve got businesses in our area which supply food on a national basis or import food nationally.

“We’ve had an increase in the number of EU approved premises. Most of our food profile is made up of takeaways, schools and similar premises, but we’re seeing more manufacturers open.

“Structurally there should be sound procedures in place and microbiological testing,” she added. “Those businesses are more likely to distribute on a national basis, so there are more implications if something goes wrong.

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“On a day-today basis, we’re dealing with poor performers, closures, pests and continuing poor compliance. We need time and experience to deal with those scenarios to make sure the public are kept safe.”

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