Last year, the health authorities closed down four restaurants and destroyed more than half a tonne of food which included unrefrigerated meat. This year alone, the Environmental Health Directorate has taken 13 catering establishments to court on illegalities and infringements of health and food safety regulations.

The catering industry in Malta is generally compliant and establishments which go against the law are an exception

Despite these statistics, Environmental Health Director John Attard Kingswell says that the catering industry in Malta in general adheres to standards.

Nowadays, any establishment serving food is legally bound to register with the Food Safety Commission after it is given the go-ahead by the Health Inspectorate. The aim of this regulatory process is to make sure that the establishment adheres to the strict standards of the hazard analysis and critical control points and serves food which does not pose a risk to the health of consumers.

The rules are very strict and rightly so. If a strict health and safety regime is imposed on the catering industry, then the customer can rest assured that a meal won’t be the cause of a surprise visit to hospital. Among some of the most common rules applied to catering establishments are that food must be stored at the right temperature and it should not be infected or outdated. Moreover, premises should be kept clean, seating capacity should be calculated according to space so as not to create cramped conditions, and all of the personnel handling food must be in possession of a food handling certificate.

According to Mr Attard Kingswell, inspections are made at random and without preliminary notice.

“The Environmental Health Directorate through its Health Inspectorate is the competent authority responsible to monitor food hygiene in restaurants – however, it is the operators’ responsibility to ensure food safety. The Health Inspectorate also performs risk-based inspections – inspections are carried out regularly but the frequency of inspections depends on the risk factor obtained in the previous inspection. All inspections are recorded and an improvement notice is sent to the operator – this notice also stipulates the deadline by which such improvements need to be carried out,” says Mr Attard Kingswell.

This year, inspectors have issued up to 1,899 improvement notices to catering establishments – however, these notices usually do not address serious problems. When the establishment poses a more serious hazard, inspectors are then obliged to either take the owner to court, sign a legally-binding contract with the owner which forces them to make changes in a stipulated time frame, halt parts of the service or even close down the premises completely. However, there is no reason to sound the alarm. Mr Attard Kingswell also remarks that the catering industry in Malta is generally compliant and establishments which go against the law are an exception among a majority that follow the rules.

But the proverbial bad apples can infect the others. Restaurants which don’t operate according to standards are not only a hazard to consumers but may also pose a threat to the image of the catering industry as a whole. For example, last year the health authorities served a restaurant in Ta’ Xbiex with an emergency control order for lack of hygiene – however, in a press statement they omitted the name of the restaurant. The press published the statement leaving everybody guessing as to which was the actual restaurant that was forced to close down. Undoubtedly, this was of great concern to the Ta’ Xbiex restaurateurs. In turn, they rushed to the press claiming that this cast a shadow on all the restaurants in the area. After all, it’s not fair to have your reputation tarnished because of the mistakes of others.

When it comes to lack of food safety, the biggest hazard is found in unlicensed restaurants which are not regulated and do not ascribe to any rules and regulations. For a restaurant to start operating, it must obtain a Tourism Compliance Certificate and then apply for the necessary Malta Environment and Planning Authority permits. According to a Malta Tourism Authority spokesperson, “unlicensed restaurants cause unfair competition with licensed similar establishments. Given that they would not have been submitted to any controls or inspections, they run a much higher risk of accidents and are not bound by MTA standards. Patrons making use of such establishments also run a higher risk of poor service.”

Probably what may push some patrons to decide not to apply for permits is to avoid the costs which health and safety regulations might bring about. Mechanical extractors to maintain suitable levels of ventilation in the kitchen and grease traps which prevent grease and food debris from entering into the drainage system are just two of the necessary investments. But is it really worth it to open a catering establishment without the necessary permits simply to avoid the cost of overheads?

In reality, the risk is too high and it seems that, nowadays, those who enter into such risks are very few in number. The health and safety regime is tough on the catering industry and failing to comply can result in serious consequences.