Food Safety Monitoring: Elderly in Private Care

Reports surveys of managers and environmental health officers(EHOs) carried out at the Food Policy Research Unit between December 1990 and April 1993 to evaluate current food safety monitoring system and relations between the various parties involved in residential care homes. A high degree of consensus existed among EHOs on the potential hygiene risks in homes and their consequences for residents. In up to 60 per cent of homes these risks were more probable than possible, with fundamental defects such as inadequate cleanliness and poor kitchen design being found. Blame did not lie entirely with the management of these homes – when they turned to the local EHOs for help 80 per cent were dismayed to find a high degree of disparity in the advice offered by individual officers and a lack of accord even on basic issues. Greater collaboration with the other agencies responsible for monitoring standards in care homes and nationally agreed standards are essential to improve levels of food safety, protect vulnerable elderly people and maintain the credibility of the environmental health profession.