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local
news
Getting heavy on retail outlets
By
Miriam Dunn
The battle to improve food hygiene in Malta was stepped up at the
beginning of this month when health inspectors began cracking down
on retail outlets selling food.
The move marked a significant expansion of the Public Health department’s
Risk Assessment Programme which kicked off three years ago and which
saw inspectors implementing a grading system for hotel kitchens.
The programme was then extended last October to include all catering
establishments, with the latest step of grading outlets selling
food, such as supermarkets, grocers and butchers, getting underway
at the beginning of April.
The inspections will work on the same lines as the programme for
hotels, awarding outlets grades between A – F. Any grade between
A and C would be deemed acceptable. Outlets only achieving a grade
E or F are being referred for legal action.
Chief health inspector John Attard Kingswell told MaltaToday that
between October and March, there were 1,297 inspections carried
out in catering establishments. From those inspected, three quarters
were found to be satisfactory or above, while the other 25% needed
to make some improvements.
"A small number – 0.6% - failed the inspection completely
and the findings were handed over for legal action to be taken against
the outlets," he said. No figures have yet been released for
the inspections undertaken at food retail outlets.
With summer approaching, the Public Health officials will also be
looking out for long-running problems, such as dairy products, which
need to be refrigerated, sitting outside shops before opening.
Health inspectors should also have more support at a legislative
level later this year when the new Food Safety Act is due to come
into force.
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