CIEH responds to BBC investigation into foodborne illness

In light of the steady rise of foodborne illnesses over the last two years, and the BBC's recent findings connecting this to the delays in local authority food hygiene inspections, the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH) has issued a statement in response, highlighting the workforce challenges facing the environmental health profession. 

The CIEH is calling on the government to prioritise additional funding for local authorities' environmental health teams, also urging them to provide sufficient ringfenced funding for apprentices and trainees to help ensure the UK has a sustainable profession that can adequately protect public health. Alongside this, the CIEH is taking steps to overcome capacity and capability challenges, working with key stakeholders to ensure the profession is accessible, while maintaining the necessary skills criteria and campaigning to raise the profile of environmental health. 

The importance of environmental health

The CIEH underscores the essential role environmental health plays in protecting public health, with teams across the country working to authenticate the UK's food and subsequently advise, inspect and enforce food safety and hygiene standards. Everyone in the wider food system plays a role in protecting the health and safety of the public, with environmental health professionals forming a key part of the defence against foodborne illnesses via hygiene inspections. The priority should now be on strengthening environmental health's ability to prevent future outbreaks, reducing the mounting pressures on the health system. 

It is important to have a holistic view and consider all the factors affecting the identification, prevention and mitigation of foodborne illnesses, says the CIEH, including consumer guidance, food handling education, post-Brexit food safety regulation and the critical workforce challenges across local authorities. 

"Environmental health professionals are the unsung heroes of public health – they are our first line of defence against foodborne illnesses and work with wider businesses, organisations and policymakers to ensure the UK's food safety," says Fran McCloskey, CEO of the CIEH.

"The recent E.coli outbreak underscores the crucial need to address the wider problems across the UK's food system, including the recruitment and retention crisis facing environmental health teams in local authorities.

"CIEH continues to call upon the government to take urgent action to address the workforce shortages and capacity challenges facing our profession to strengthen environmental health's ability to review and prevent future outbreaks."

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