School kitchens: extent of bad hygiene practices revealed under FOI

School kitchens: extent of bad hygiene practices revealed under FOI

In a survey of over 200 local authorities the Guardian has uncovered extremely poor standards of hygiene practices in many school kitchens. Reports from food safety inspections at schools across the country, released under the Freedom of Information Act, set out in detail some of the shortcomings that inspectors have found over the past year.

In some areas inspectors found standards were being met, but in many others faults ranged from staff ignorant of basic hygiene or contracted for so few hours they have no time to clean properly, to out-of-date food, dirty and greasy equipment, and mouldy and crumbling walls. Some schools have also been threatened with legal action to improve their kitchens.

Read the full reports on the Guardian website:
Extracts from food inspection reports: local authorities A-M
Extracts from food inspection reports: local authorities N-Z

Dirt, droppings and decay: the state of many kitchens (The Guardian, 14 September 2005)