When Australian Environmental Health Officers (EHOs) conduct an inspection of a food premises this is typically done to assess compliance with the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code, particularly the Food Safety Requirements which includes skills and knowledge of food handlers. Inspection frequency is established using compliance history and risk classification schemes.
Many EHOs use an inspection checklist such as the Australian Food Safety Assessment (AFSA), or other standardised inspection tools. The AFSA tool includes assessment of skills and knowledge of food handlers. Standards of Practice provide a series of suggested questions EHOs could use out in the field when assessing Hygiene of Food Handlers and Food Business Responsibilities. Guiding advice from Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) publication entitled “Safe Food Australia” can also assist EHOs to make judgements. However, it is unclear what criteria are used by EHOs to make valid, fair and flexible judgements as the AFSA tool relies on ticking a box without any formal assessment of food handler skills and knowledge. The AFSA audit tool may support statements about compliance but it does not analyse processes.
To guarantee food safety for consumers, it is important regulatory agencies continuously improve standards, processes and tools.
Think ST Solutions developed a useful tool to be used by all EHOs to assess food safety practices of a food business owner and employees through the collection of appropriate evidence to determine if compliance is met or not met. Following presentations to SA Health and the New South Wales Food Authority, (with positive feedback received), the audit tool was successfully piloted. Further work is required.
Subsequent discussions with a leading food prosecutor indicated EHOs are not assessing the skills and knowledge requirements. This led to the development of a workshop proposal to assist EHOs; it was designed to provide a fresh approach for assessing skills and knowledge. This proposal was submitted to Environmental Health Australia, the peak professional body for EHOs, but there has been no uptake of this offer to date.
So, where does this leave the food business owner or manager?
Be proactive! You need to demonstrate due diligence and manage business risk by:
- training employees in the skills and knowledge needed by each worker now and in the future
- offering encouragement to your employees to gain advancement by work performance and by training and education programs
- the identification of training needs that cannot be met by existing resources
- updating training plans and training records
- keep track of performance as this provides opportunities for improvement
- ensure your employees are competent and this is evidenced on-the-job
Recently a food industry client was inspected by the local EHO. The Officer was invited to view the employee food safety training program – a combination of resources containing a customised video, a food safety manual, a presentation and other resources. No questions (were asked) or analysis of the skills and knowledge of food handling employees took place. The EHO was interested to find out the name of the developer; of course, these training resources were developed by Think ST Solutions!
