25 January 2010

Councils across the country use food sampling to build a better picture of the food we eat and the steps that can be taken to protect and improve the health of local communities. To help support this work, each year LACORS coordinates a range of UK-wide studies that address issues of local, regional and national importance.

This year, food safety and food standards teams throughout the UK will examine the contents of the nation’s takeaways, investigate whether ‘local’ food really is local, and help the country prepare for a safe Olympics in 2012 by looking at the meals served at large events.

The LACORS food hygiene and food standards sampling programmes show how councils, by working together, are uniquely placed to inform national debate on safer and healthier food.

In 2010-11, councils have chosen to investigate:

• Local claims - Checking the accuracy claims that food is ‘local’, helping to ensure that businesses are operating in a fair environment and consumers are not misled. 

• Salt in bread - Working with local bakers to assess and reduce the salt content in bread. Bread is the largest source of salt in the British diet accounting on average for 20% of our daily intake, and this project will have a direct impact on public health.

• Takeaways - Engaging with local takeaway businesses on the level of allergens, fat, salt and artificial colours in the food they sell.

• Large events – Preparing for a safer Olympics in 2012 by focusing on how existing arrangements at large events, like music festivals, can be improved.

• Listeria – Helping to protect vulnerable groups by investigating the unexplained rise in the number of older people contracting the food poisoning bug Listeria monocytogenes.

• Promoting better hygiene standards – Focusing on food businesses that find it difficult to maintain good standards and looking at how councils can support long-term improvements in food hygiene.