The second series of the Food Inspectors fly on the wall documentary was recently aired on BBC1 and once again the spotlight was on one of Reigate and Banstead’s Environmental Health Officers.
Russell Jenner, who has a whopping 33 years experience working in environmental health, featured in three episodes which showed him visiting and revisiting a number of food businesses that were due for routine inspections.
Enforcing robust systems
“In Banstead," Russell says "I found one take away where there wasn’t a hard and fast food hygiene system in place. Staff were not aware of the proper process – for example they were washing their hands in the food washing basin and the fridge temperature exceeded the legal maximum.
“However, when I returned, they had rolled out a raft of changes. There is now a much more robust system in place, staff were following correct procedure and the fridge was at the correct temperature. It was much more promising and a full refit has been promised early in 2013.
Safer food, better business
“Another business I revisited was in Horley. I gave them a food hygiene rating of one on my first visit because there was no food safety management system in place, no sanitiser spray, surfaces were greasy and the fridge was dirty. However, I was very pleased when I returned. The manager had put 'Safer Food Better Business' procedure in place as his management system (a template provided by the Food Standards Agency).
"You could see the difference in the staff. On my first visit, they had their heads down; they knew that things weren’t right. When we came this time, they were smiling and happy to show us around.”
Look before you book
“When you are eating out at a local restaurant, pub or hotel," says Russell, "don't just check out the menu, check out the food hygiene rating as well. It gives us all quite a lot of power to encourage better hygiene standards to be maintained. In addition to the green stickers displayed on the premises, you can also go to the Reigate and Banstead area page on the Food Standards Agency website to check out ratings before you book.
