Six hawkers were booked in Vittoriosa over the past month for operating without proper hand washing and equipment cleaning facilities, the Health Inspectorate said today.
A hawker was booked in Mosta for several deficiencies related to food, including exposing food to risk of contamination, no adequate washing facilities, improper storage temperature and lack of food hygiene training;
An illegal food operator in Tarxien was booked for operating premises not according to licence, illegal slaughtering of rabbits, unhygienic conditions and risk of contamination by keeping cheeselets not at temperatures below 8oC;
A operator in St. Julians was found in possession of expired foodstuffs, failing to provide traceability and keeping poultry products not at temperatures below 8oC;
Another operator in Pieta’ was booked for having frozen poultry products being sold as fresh while a butcher in Marsa was booked for exposing food to risk of contamination
An illegal operator in Hamrun was found to be operating premises without being registered. He also failed to provide food hygiene training, exposed food to risk of contamination and failed to provide Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) system.
Two premises were served with an emergency control order. One was issued to stop a business from pressing oil and another to stop illegal slaughtering of rabbits.
During the month, inspectors issued 619 notices requesting improvements after unannounced inspections of businesses.
In 11 cases, legally binding undertakings were made by businesses after inspectors found deficiencies in food premises, improperly labelled food, and for not implementing a food safety management.
The inspectorate destroyed 497kg of foodstuffs including 371kg of poultry products with lapsed expiry date, improper temperature and lack of traceability, 62kg improperly labelled pastry products, 12kg dairy products following court order and 7kg honey due to authenticity issues.
Inspectors during November performed audits in 13 hotels and checked 10 swimming pools which were not for private use.
During November, another unit within the Environmental Health Directorate, the Food Safety Unit, received 63 requests to operate a food business.
In the same month, 469 complaints were lodged with the Directorate. They included 85 complaints related to food including improper labelling (19 complaints), unhygienic premises (16 complaints), improper storage of food (9 complaints), and personal malpractices (7 complaints).
Other complaints were about the presence of pests (120 complaints), infiltrations (80 complaints), accumulation of refuse (26 complaints), keeping of animals in unhygienic conditions (27 complaints), foul smells (22 complaints), leakage/defective drains (20 complaints), drainage overflows (18 complaints) and 12 complaints on stagnant water.
The Environmental Health Directorate can be reached on telephone number 21337333,