Hundreds of Sheffield eateries not hygiene checked

A backlog in hygiene checks has raised concerns about kitchen cleanliness and undeclared allergens in menu items.

Sheffield's food standards service has warned of "significant backlogs" in its hygiene checks, leading to hundreds of unassessed businesses in the city.

A meeting heard more than 600 new firms are yet to be inspected by the service, with thousands of established sites overdue follow-ups.

Reasons for the delays include problems recruiting staff and a backlog of jobs caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The council said it was doing all it could to "mitigate" health risks.

A report warned hygiene standards at food businesses had "declined during the pandemic and recovery period", with the cost of living crisis "further exacerbating" the problem.

"The current backlog includes 603 new businesses (as yet unrated) which need urgent visits," it said.

'Really high risk'

Jennifer Marshall, a safety manager with environmental regulation, told the Sheffield Town Hall meeting that the Food Standards Agency was questioning the council on a monthly basis about the backlog.

She said: "We are really concerned… and we know that is an area that is likely to be really high risk."

The majority of complaints to the service were about allergens over the last year, the report said, with many more problems spotted on environmental health visits.

The Waste and Street Scene Policy Committee meeting heard the local authority had "amassed over 3,000 overdue interventions" in total.

"A major concern for the authority is the risk to public health of a death or serious injury from an undeclared allergen present in food supplied in the city," the report stated.

It later added: "The lower risk premises and the new, unrated premises have significant backlogs."

The service relies heavily on contractors to deal with the backlogs, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said, with numbers not sufficient to significantly reduce the number of overdue jobs.

Ian Ashmore, Head of Environmental Regulation at Sheffield City Council, said: "We are doing everything we can to mitigate public health risks."