The following is a summary of some activities undertaken by the Environmental Health Directorate within the Public Health Regulation Department during the month of October, 2010.

Improvement Notices Issued to Food Business Operators

343 improvement notices in terms of article 33 of the Food Safety Act have been issued to food business operators by the Health Inspectorate Services.

This notice is sent to all food business operators following an unannounced inspection by Environmental Health Officers within their establishment. The intention of this notice is to inform food operators about deficiencies noted in their establishments and the operator is given a specific deadline by which the deficiencies are to be remedied. Whilst the gravity of deficiencies might vary, legal action is initiated when major deficiencies are noted.

Undertakings with Food Business Operators

During the same month, twelve undertakings were entered into with operators. The main reasons were structural deficiencies in food premises, improperly labelled food, for not implementing a food safety management system such as Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) system, and failure to adopt food hygiene training.

Undertakings are legal agreements between the food business operators and the Health Authority specifying deadlines by which deficiencies in their premises should be remedied or to re-label products in compliance with standing legislation. Failure to abide with the agreed deadlines results in Court proceedings being initiated.

Destruction of Food

In October, over 509kg of food and drinks were destroyed by the Health Inspectorate, ranging from dips (178kg), cheeses (103kg), meat products (93kg), ice lollies (89kg) and several other miscellaneous food items.

Legionella Audits and Pool Inspections

Sixteen audits at Hotels, and other similar premises to ascertain compliance with Control of Legionella Regulations, 2006 (L.N. 5 of 2006) and the Registration of Cooling Towers and Evaporative Condensers Regulations, 2006 (L.N. 6 of 2006) were performed by the Health Inspectorate.

During the same month, seven pools were inspected by the Health Inspectorate to verify compliance with Swimming Pools Regulations, 2005 (L.N. 129 of 2005). This regulation specifies that all swimming pools with the exception of those situated at a single family residence need to register with this Directorate. A list of registered pools can be found in the Directorate’s website mentioned below.

Inspections of Schools

During October, eight schools were inspected to ensure compliance with general hygiene requirements.

Food Consignments

Sixty-four consignments of food imported into Malta were also inspected by Environmental Health officers attached with the Port Health Services within this Directorate.

Ship Sanitation Certificates

During October, twenty-four Ship Sanitation Certificates were issued by the Port Health Services. Such inspections are carried out in terms of the International Health Regulations of 2005 and involve the assessment of the general hygienic conditions and control measures undertaken on ships. Such certificate needs to be renewed every 6 months at an authorised port, Malta being an authorised port.

Applications and Consultations

During October, another unit within the Environmental Health Directorate, the Food Safety Unit, received fifty-two requests to process applications to operate a food business. Prospective operators who wish to open a food business are obliged to apply for a building permit with the Malta Environment and Planning Authority (MEPA) and then apply for the actual licence with the competent authority for example the Trade Licensing Unit or Malta Tourism Authority. At every stage, this Directorate is consulted in order to verify suitability of proposed premises.

During the same month, Environmental Health Officers deployed within this unit processed three consultations to food businesses and carried out a total of 82 visits.

Contraventions

§ Food related contraventions

Seven contraventions were issued to food business operators; three in Naxxar for working without having undergone the necessary food hygiene training and operating a food business in inadequate conditions; in Paola, two other people were charged, one for exposing milk at ambient temperatures and the other for breaching an order given by the Health Authority; another two in Qormi, one for keeping cheeslets at incorrect temperatures and one for breaching an undertaking

Other Environmental Health related contraventions

During October, another four contraventions against different persons were issued by the Health Inspectorate in relation to other environmental health issues as follows:

o for smoking inside a non-smoking area at Mater Dei Hospital;

o for keeping accumulations of refuse in a private residence in Gzira;

o for keeping internal parts of a house dirty in B’Kara;

o for having improper drains in Mellieha.

Emergency Control and Prohibition Orders

During October, two premises were served with an emergency prohibition order and closed down by the Health Authority. These were:

Rooms at Triq it-12 ta’ Mejju, Zebbug regarding the cutting and processing of horse meat inside illegal rooms; and Taj Mahal, 112, The Strand, Gzira regarding unhygienic conditions

During said month, four emergency control orders were issued to stop certain activities, in particular two for using borehole and well water without being registered with the Health Authority, one for the manufacture of sandwiches and other prepared rolls without having an HACCP system in place and another for the above mentioned rooms (which were closed down) being used for the cutting and processing of horse meat.

Recalls

During October, a notice was issued regarding the undeclared presence of milk proteins in a food product. Press release number 1839 was issued in this respect.

Food is recalled when there is a direct or indirect risk to human health due to the presence of foreign objects, pathogenic and potentially pathogenic organisms, adulteration of food, unauthorised GMOs, undeclared allergens, etc.

Samples

In the month of October, 741 samples were elevated by the Health Inspectorate and submitted to the Public Health Laboratory for analysis and/or examination for several parameters;

o 89 food samples,

o 62 potable water samples,

o 326 sea water samples, and

o 264 miscellaneous samples.

Bathing Water Monitoring Programme

As stated above, during the month of October, 326 samples of sea water were collected and submitted to the Public Health Laboratory to be analysed for microbiological parameters as stipulated by EU Directive 2006/7/EC. The bathing water monitoring programme is carried out in accordance with the provisions of said EU Directive. The official bathing season started on the 17th May 2010 and ended 24th October 2010. Sampling was carried out from 87 official bathing sites throughout the Maltese islands.

Up to the 23rd week (the end of the bathing season) of the monitoring programme the 87 sites have been classified as follows: 83 sites as Excellent Quality, 3 sites as Good Quality and 1 site of Sufficient Quality. A total of 1979 samples of sea water were collected during the 23 weeks of the official bathing season and 3958 microbiological analysis have been carried out on these samples by the Public Health Laboratory.

Complaints

In the same month, 635 complaints were lodged with the Directorate. These were categorized as follows:

§ Food related complaints

One hundred and eleven of these complaints were related to food. The most common type of food complaints concerned improper labelling of food (17 complaints), improper storage of food (15 complaints), unhygienic premises (15 complaints), fitness of food (14 complaints), and exposing food to risk of contamination (11 complaints).

§ Other Environmental Health related complaints

Another five hundred and twenty four complaints were environmental health related. Once again, the most common type concerned presence of pests (151 complaints), infiltrations (96 complaints), accumulations of refuse (50 complaints), stagnant water (32 complaints), keeping of animals in unhygienic conditions (30 complaints), and twenty five complaints on drainage overflows.

The Environmental Health Directorate reminds the public that it can contact the Health Inspectorate Services between 07:30am and 03:30pm on telephone number 21337333, by calling personally at its offices at 37-39, Rue D’Argens, Msida or by email complaints.ph@gov.mt .

For further information, the public is also encouraged to visit the Directorate’s website at URL: https://ehealth.gov.mt/HealthPortal/public_health/environmental-health/department_for_env_health.aspx

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