Wycombe District Council promotes Food Safety Week 2011

08 June 2011

On Friday 10 June, Wycombe District Council's Environmental Health Team will be in the Eden shopping centre providing information on food safety and good hand hygiene. The stall is part of National Food Safety Week from 6 to 12 June and will be in place from 9am to 4pm.

This year's Food Safety Week is focusing on good hygiene in the home, which will help stop the spread of harmful bacteria, and WDC's Environmental Health Team will be showing this through hand washing demonstrations. At the same time the Food Standards Agency is working closely with food businesses all along the food chain to reduce the risk of harmful bacteria reaching our plates.

The recent events in Germany have highlighted the importance of food safety and the severe consequences that can occur when controls fail.

Cllr Audrey Jones, Cabinet Member for Environment comments: "It is vitally important to make sure that any food that is being cooked or prepared is done so in the correct manner. Food Safety Week provides a great opportunity to promote the importance of good hand hygiene and how to prepare your food in a safe manner."

To investigate what people think good hygiene is, in the run-up to Food Safety Week, the Food Standards Agency asked more than 2,000 people whether they thought a range of statements about food safety were true or false. The research showed that most people are aware of good hygiene in the kitchen, but can still fall foul of some common misconceptions around food safety.

More than half (57%) of people believe that they can tell if food is safe to eat just by its appearance or smell, however this is not the case. Potentially dangerous food bugs like E.coli don't always make food smell 'off' and do not affect the appearance of food.

More than a third (37%) of people questioned thought that 'use by' dates are put on food packaging to encourage shoppers to throw it out so they have to buy more. In reality the 'use by' date is required by law and is an important indicator of how long a food will remain safe to eat. Other dates that also appear, such as 'best before' and 'sell by' dates, relate to the food's quality rather than its safety.

Further information is available on the Food Standards Agency's website using the link below.