The Environmental Health Assessment

The environmental health agency holds a great deal of power when it comes to your business. They have the power to close your restaurant or food business with a single visit. Even if you get everything up to scratch and reopen in a few days, it can cause lasting damage to your business’s reputation and/or cash flow situation. Therefore, it is vital to get it right the first time. In this article, we will cover some of the most asked questions and give you some advice to ensure your experience with the EHO is a positive one.

When the EHO visit?

Short answer, whenever they want. However, there are times you can expect a higher chance of seeing them such as:

• Opening of your establishment — Expect a visit shortly after opening your business.

• After a customer complaint — If a group ate a meal at your restaurant then all fell ill, it’s likely they will connect the dots. In this case the environmental health officer making the visit will likely be much more vigilant.

• If it’s been a while — Depending on your track record the visits may be loosely every 6 or 12 months. So, if It’s been around a year since your last visit, you can expect them to be knocking soon.

Environmental officers don’t need to give any formal notice before a visit, however, if you develop a good working relationship with your local officers, you may find them being equally reasonable.

What is the Goal of an EHO Visit?

The goal the environmental health visit it to ensure that any food being prepared or produced is safe to eat and matches the description it’s being sold as. They will be checking to ensure that all food hygiene practices are being upheld as well as checking the general cleanliness of the premises.

They are not there to simply pass or fail your establishment, but to ensure the standards are acceptable. Sometimes their goal may just to be to help you and provide advice for areas of improvement.

What Will They Look For?

The EHO who visits your premises will have a checklist style report to fill. They will look at all areas of the premises that food will be at any point. This means they will investigate the kitchen area, front of house and any storage areas such as cellars. Some of the things they will check:

• Cleanliness of kitchen and food prep areas — Perhaps the most obvious one. They will ensure worktops are clean and sanitized, fridges are free of spillages, the floor is relatively clean and check areas that will often be missed with daily cleaning e.g. Behind freezers.

• Staff hygiene — They will check to see that staff are adequately dressed and pose no risk of contamination of food. Some common things to watch for are: Jewellery — loose earing and bracelets are not suitable. Hair — Hairnets or hats should be worn. Gloves should be worn in certain circumstances.
• Food Labelling — This is one of the main things they WILL check. Make sure every single food item in the kitchen has a suitable label.

• Separate areas for food prep — Another important one they will check. There must be a designated area for raw food prep, where no other food can be prepped. This area should house the other raw food equipment e.g. chopping boards.
• Cross-contamination — They will check that food in fridges are on the correct shelves. In most cases a separate fridge is required for raw meat.
• Documentation — They will require ALL documentation to be up to date. This means fridge and freezer temperature checks, temperature checks of cooked foods, incoming food temperature checks and any other documents you hold.
• Allergens — They will check that the allergens told to customers match that which is in the food. A fail here will likely result in the immediate closure of the kitchen — take extra care.

• Staff Knowledge — They will likely question staff on protocols, to ensure they are doing things correctly. It may be useful to have some, or all of your staff pass a basic food hygiene course (Available here)

• Facilities — Many new restaurants are not fully aware of the requirements here. For example, a minimum of 3 sinks is required in a working kitchen — one for food prep, one for dishes and one for hand washing. They will also check staff restrooms.

• Pests — They will look for signs of pests as well as look at the steps taken to prevent pests.

How to Prepare for an Environmental Health Visit

If you are expected a visit there are several things you can do to ensure it goes smoothly here are our top 5 suggestions.

1. Time for a deep clean! Make sure your kitchen is spotless. Consider getting outside help for things like ventilation cleaning or power washing.

2. Ensure all staff has food hygiene training (Available here). This will show the EHO that you are serious about providing a safe service.

3. Label, Label, Label! Make sure everything is labeled. There are standard dates that most food items will fall into, such as 3 days for cooked food and 3 months for frozen food.

4. Ensure allergen sheets are completely accurate. This should be done regardless of the EHO visit, people’s lives depend on it.

5. Be co-operative. EHOs don’t enjoy closing business, they would much rather work with you to bring standards up to code. Working together can prove to be beneficial for your business in the long term.

It takes a lot of work the build the foundations of a safe and well-run food business but when protocols are in place it shouldn’t take much effort to ensure your business is in line with environmental health’s standards.

Thanks for reading. This piece came from my blog The Dining Toolbox. This post contains affiliate links where I may receive commission on anything sold, at no cost to you.