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Over the course of 2010, the Food Standards Agency investigated 1505 incidents related to food hygiene. This is 24.5% higher than 2009 (1208 investigated incidents) and 15.9% higher than in 2008 (1298 incidents).
Of these, environmental contamination was the main cause, recording almost 350 incidents (23% of all cases). This was followed by microbiological contamination which had over 250 incidents (18% of all cases).
Incidents Caused By Poor Hygiene Practice
Environmental contamination can be caused by a number of things such as fires, chemical or oil spills and radiation leaks. Fires are the most common problem, recorded at 68% of all environmental contaminations.
The other cause of food hygiene incidents is contamination of food or animal feed in the processing distribution, retail and catering chains. This can include anything from pests, glass, metal and wood to hair and nails.
Pests were the most common cause (19%) followed by glass (18%), metal (16%) and plastic (9%). In a lot of incidents like these, this type of contamination can be avoided through the proper use of food hygiene practices. More often than not it is human error or lax procedures that lead to the FSA issuing alerts and information notices to local authorities.
For more information about food hygiene incidents recorded by the FSA in 2010 check out High Speed Training’s infographic:
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