Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council tops a poll of hygiene inspections of restaurants in NI

Statistics from a Local Democracy Reporting Service investigation shows that the local authority has inspected 95% of restaurants and takeaways in its council area within the last two years. But the same probe has found that Belfast City Council is at the other end of the scale with the lowest number of hygiene inspections since 2022 at just 66% of establishments.

The new analysis shared with the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), reveals the potential of food poisoning and other serious health issues across the UK, with a potential crisis in food safety as one in five restaurants and takeaways have not been inspected for more than two years.

A Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council spokesperson said: “Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council fully implemented the Food Standards Agency Recovery Plan guidance following the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Through the commitment of its Environmental Health team, the council was able to meet and exceed the milestones set for local authorities by the FSA in the plan.

“The council is committed to ensuring high standards of food hygiene within food premises in the Lisburn and Castlereagh area.

"It follows an annual schedule of inspections in line with the Food Law Code of Practice alongside dealing with any consumer concerns raised by the public.

“As a council it also supports local food businesses through the provision of information and guidance.

"When working with food businesses the council asks for feedback to help it to continually improve its service.”

The BBC’s analysis of more than 250,000 public records on the Food Standards Agency website has found more than 53,000 had not been inspected since 2021.

Around 19% of total inspected food businesses in England, Wales and Northern Ireland have not had a follow-up hygiene inspection at least since 2021.

The worst council on the UK list was Rochford at only 32% of businesses inspected after 2022.

Almost a third of businesses classed as pubs, bars or nightclubs were last assessed before 2022 (32.1%), followed by mobile caterers (29%), restaurants, cafes and canteens (16%) and takeaways and sandwich shops (11%).

Belfast City Council was contacted for comment, but at the time of going to print had not respond.

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Food Standards Agency chief executive, Emily Miles said: “We do see a lot of pressure facing local authorities at the moment.

"The number of people in post is not dissimilar to what it was before the pandemic, we are looking at about 1,400 food hygiene staff across the country and about 380 trading standards officers. But it’s the vacancy rates that do worry us. Between one in seven and one in ten are vacant and local authorities can struggle to recruit.

“In addition, local authorities are facing significant financial pressures and we’ve seen a long-term decline in funding into the food system in local authorities.

"The levels of sampling are lower, we’ve got almost half the number of trading standards officers we had 10 years ago, we are down 14-15 per cent on food hygiene inspectors.

"So, we are concerned about that and we also think the number of businesses has grown in that time as well, so there’s more work to do with fewer staff.”