The identification and the effective enforcement and control of the risks of foodborne illness in the micro owner/managed catering business sector

Green, RM

Abstract

The incidence of foodborne disease in England and Wales shows a continuous rise
throughout the latter part of the twentieth and early twenty first centuries despite regular
inspections by Environmental Health Officers (EHOs). In order to ameliorate this, the
concept of a risk based system of food safety management, HACCP, was introduced.
This thesis describes the research to determine the effectiveness of EHOs in identifying
and controlling the significant risks of foodborne disease in micro owner/managed
catering businesses (MO/MCBs) over a 14 year period which marked the transition from
prescriptive to risk based legislation. By deconstructing and itemising inspection reports
on 80 premises the EHOs' findings are collated and any trends revealed, thereby
quantitatively demonstrating the propensity of EHOs to identify these risks.
The MO/MCB perception of authority, in particular EHOs, is explored by a series of indepth
discussions with a focus group of 12 participants, taken from the original 80
businesses, thus exposing any cultural issues which relate to the effectiveness of
identifying and controlling risk.
The results show that significant risks are rarely identified by EHOs in food safety reports
prior to the introduction of the risk based legislation and that there is little change
afterwards, it further shows that a major factor is the unwillingness of the MO/MCBs to
confide in EHOs regarding food safety problems.
The findings of this research highlight a weakness in the concept of HACCP in this sector
in that MO/MCBs do not have the scientific expertise, and EHOs do not have sufficient
knowledge of the systems within the business, to comprehensively identify the significant
risks in the businesses.
This demonstrates the need for a cooperative rather than a confrontational approach to
enforcement in order to effectively identify and control the significant risks of foodborne
illness within the MO/MCB sector.
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Citation

Green, R. The identification and the effective enforcement and control of the risks of foodborne illness in the micro owner/managed catering business sector. (Thesis). Salford : University of Salford

• Thesis Type: Thesis
• Deposit Date: Oct 3, 2012
• Award Date: Jan 1, 2010