Scottish supermarkets fall short on hygiene

Scottish supermarkets fall short on hygiene

A freedom of information act has revealed that almost half of Edinburgh's largest supermarkets failed basic food safety and hygiene standards inspections last year.

According to the Edinburgh Evening News, nine of the 22 supermarkets visited by the city council’s food safety inspectors over a 12 month period were found to have breached environmental laws.

Food samples taken by inspectors at stores, including Sainsbury’s and Morrisons, were found to contain too much bacteria, while other stores were found to be storing raw and cooked food together, dirty floors and worn-out chopping boards.

In one council report, Asda was reported to have 25 failings when inspectors visited in March. These included raw meat being store next to cooked food and the same cleaning cloths used in deli and bakery counters.

At the Sainbury’s Savacentre at Cameron Toll, inspectors uncovered 19 failings, including blocked access to wash basins.

Fiona Moriarty, director of the Scottish Retail Forum, said: “Supermarkets have a clear management structure, as well as internal auditing processes, to make sure they keep to the laid out food safety standards.”

Spokespersons for the supermarkets all expressed their concern at the findings and claimed that the contraventions in the report had been rectified.

Scottish supermarkets fall short on hygiene (TalkingRetail.com, 3 October 2007)