This is the monthly report of salient activities performed by the Health Inspectorate Services of the Environmental Health Directorate within the Superintendence of Public Health during October, 2011.

The following is a summary of the report for the month of October:

o Over 12 tonnes of different foodstuffs were destroyed;

o the bathing water monitoring programme came to an end with an overall improvement when compared to last year;

o 602 improvement notices were issued; an increase of 126 notices over the previous month;

o 5 operators were ordered to stop using borehole water due to high level of nitrates;

o 1 product was recalled;

o 10 undertakings were issued;

o 12 Legionella audits carried out;

o 24 swimming pools audited during 6 audits;

o 9 abatement notices issued;

o 67 consignments imported were inspected;

o 1 package containing tattoo equipment was withheld;

o 2382 notification for importing/trading food into Malta;

o 23 Ship Sanitation certificates issued;

o 75 applications were processed;

o 71 visits related to food business applications;

o 554 samples elevated and analysed;

o 22 citations issued/processed; and

o 554 complaints lodged with the Health Inspectorate.

IMPROVEMENT NOTICES ISSUED TO FOOD BUSINESS OPERATORS

Six Hundred and Two 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 is an increase of 126 notices over the last month.

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 while the operator is given a specific deadline by when the deficiencies need to be remedied. Though the seriousness of deficiencies might vary, legal action is initiated when major deficiencies are noted.

UNDERTAKINGS

During the same month, ten undertakings were entered into with food business operators in terms of the Food Safety Act including to improve hygiene, improper labelling, to implement HACCP and to ensure that all food handlers undergo training on food hygiene.

Another three undertakings were made under the Public Health Act with establishments to ensure that risk assessment is made and hence a risk assessment manual is kept with regards to Legionella exposure and also to keep a safety operating procedure manual for swimming pools.

Undertakings are legal agreements between the commercial operators and the Health Authority specifying deadlines by when 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 12,228kg of different foodstuffs were destroyed by the Health Inspectorate, ranging from:

o 6,795kg of oranges due to presence of moulds,

o 5,000kg of frozen potatoes and 38kg of fresh chicken due to lapsed durability dates,

o 232kg of ice-cream, 127kg of frozen pastry products, 19litres of sauces, and 6.5ltres of milk due to incorrect storage temperatures,

o 10kg of chilli which were imported into Malta without necessary documentation

LEGIONELLA AUDITS AND POOL INSPECTIONS

Twelve 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 last month.

During the same month, twenty-four swimming pools were inspected during six relevant audits carried out 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.

During October, one swimming pool was registered with this Directorate in terms of mentioned regulations. A list of registered pools can be found in the Directorate’s website mentioned below.

ABATEMENT NOTICES

Nine abatement notices were issued during the previous month by the Health Inspectorate in terms of the Public Health Act and in view of inspections and audits carried out in the previous days.

ENFORCEMENT NOTICES

During last month, the abatement issued against a Hotel in Qawra due to presence of Legionella in the water system was withdrawn.

FOOD CONSIGNMENTS

Sixty-seven consignments of food imported/traded into Malta were also inspected during October by Environmental Health Officers attached with the Port Health Services within this Directorate.

NON-FOOD CONSIGNMENTS

During this period, officials from the Port Health Services also withheld one package containing tattoo equipment which was being imported illegally into Malta.

CONSIGNMENTS DOCUMENTARY CHECKS

2,382 requests for importation/trading of foodstuffs were submitted to the Port Health Services as required by Trading Regulations of 2004 (Legal Notice 315 of 2004- This is a considerable increase when compared to previous months, probably due to increased awareness of traders and increase in enforcement by food related authorities.

All traders of food including food contact materials and food supplements are reminded to notify the Port Health Services, 48hours in advance.

SHIP SANITATION CERTIFICATES

During October, twenty-three 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, the Health Inspectorate received seventy-five requests to process applications to operate food and non-food business. Prospective operators who wish to open such businesses are obliged to apply for a permit with the Malta Environment and Planning Authority (MEPA) and then apply for the actual licence with the competent authority such as 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 with the Food Safety Unit, which is involved in the licensing of food related business carried out a total of seventy-one visits.

SAMPLES

During October, 554 samples were elevated by the Health Inspectorate and submitted to the Public Health Laboratory for analysis and/or examination for several parameters;

o 121 food samples,

o 48 potable water samples,

o 20 swabs,

o 75 infiltration water samples,

o 3 pool water samples,

o 261 sea water samples and

o 26 other samples.

During the last months, the Directorate also launched its sampling programmes as has been done in recent years. Throughout this year, 16 microbiological sampling programmes and 28 chemical sampling programmes are planned.

BATHING WATER MONITORING PROGRAMME

As stated above, during the month of October, 261 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 16th May 2011 and ended on the 23rd October 2010. Sampling is carried out from 87 official bathing sites throughout the Maltese islands.

Up to the end of this year’s official bathing season i.e. up to the 23rd week of the monitoring rogramme, the 87 sites have been classified as follows: 84 sites as Excellent Quality, 3 sites as Good Quality, and NO sites were classified as Sufficient or Poor Quality. If this classification is ompared to the end of season classification for 2010, this indicates that there was once again an mprovement for this year’s official bathing season. In fact the 2 sites which in 2010 had classified s Sufficient have this year classified as Good and Excellent. This classification refers to sites A 01 nd A 02 which are the 2 monitoring sites at Xghajra.

CONTRAVENTIONS

n the past month, twenty-two contraventions were issued/processed by the Health Inspectorate, hirteen of which were related to food safety issues:

o Three operators (two retailers and an importer) for failing to notify competent authorities of their intention to trade food into Malta 48hours in advance. One of the retailers also failed to register as a Trader in terms of L.N. 315 of 2004;

o One Hotel in Bugibba for failing to comply with emergency prohibition order issued against it earlier;

o Three operators of an outlet in Mosta, for several food safety non conformances including, training, unhygienic conditions, washing facilities, risk of contamination;

o One operator of a delivery vehicle for being used without being registered with the Food Safety Commission, for exposing food to risk of contamination, for keeping food in unsuitable temperatures, for failing to act as a food handler without being registered and hence not trained, for having food without proper labelling, for having vehicle which is not capable to keep cold temperatures, for obstructing authorised officers;

o One Hotel and one cafeteria in Buaibba for several food safety non-conformances such as unhygienic conditions, lack of food safety training, etc;

o One outlet in Paola for keeping dairy products in improper temperature;

o One outlet in Gzira for failing to keep premises and equipment in hygienic conditions, and for failing to implement HACCP;

o One restaurant in Ta’ Xbiex for failing to keep premises and equipment in hygienic conditions, for failing to implement HACCP, exposing food to risk of contamination, and other food safety related non-conformances.

Nine contraventions were related to environmental health as follows:

o Four individuals for smoking in enclosed areas at Mater Dei Hospital;

o One resident for having a cesspit without permit from the Sanitary Authority and for not rendering cesspit leakproof;

o Another two residents in St. Paul’s Bay and San Awann for failing to keep drains leakproof and for causing an infiltration to third party. The resident in St. Paul’s Bay also caused obstruction to a public officer;

o One outlet in Mellieha for failure to abide with orders issues against same; and

o Owner of an open space in St. Paul’s Bay for failing to keep said open space clean;

EMERGENCY CONTROL ORDERS

During October, the following operators were served with emergency control orders as follows:

1. One restaurant in Ta’ Xbiex for operating in unhygienic conditions.

2. Four approved private water suppliers in Qormi, sebbua, Mellieha and Buskett l/o Dingli for using borehole water with high levels of nitrates.

During last month, the prohibition order issued against Travellers Lodge, Buaibba was also lifted.

COMPLAINTS

In October, 554 complaints were lodged with the Directorate which were categorised in one or more category, as follows:

o Food related complaints

81 complaints were related to food. The most common type of food complaints concerned risk of contamination (23 complaints), unhygienic premises (18 complaints), unfit food (10 complaints), and personal hygiene/malpractices (10 complaints)

o Other Environmental Health related complaints

Another 481 complaints were environmental health related. The most common type concerned presence of pests (172 complaints), infiltrations (75 complaints), accumulations of refuse (42 complaints), keeping of animals in unhygienic conditions (31 complaints), foul smells (28 complaints), drainage overflow (28 complaints), defective drains (26 complaints), and discharge of foul water (20 complaints).

Note: The number of complaints and the number of categories do not tally, since one complaint received may encompass one or more categories.

The Environmental Health Directorate takes this opportunity to remind the public that it can contact the Health Inspectorate Services between 7:30am and 3:30pm on telephone number 21337333, by calling personally at its offices at 37-39, Rue D’Argens, Msida or by email complaints.ph@gov.mt .

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