Aberdeen Royal Infirmary criticised over state of its kitchens

NHS Grampian received a report that stated there were hygiene problems noted which failed to meet legal requirements.

Environmental Health Officers said in the report: “In relation to the Food Hygiene Information Scheme I have assessed the hygiene conditions and procedures in place for food safety management within your business.

“As there were ongoing food hygiene contraventions noted during this inspection, the establishment has been assessed as ‘Improvement Required’.

“An ‘Improvement Required’ indicates that the business failed to meet the legal requirements in relation to food safety and food hygiene.”

The purpose of a food hygiene inspection is to assess whether a business complies with food safety requirements in order to keep consumers safe from harm.

The report said: “My assessment was based on a physical inspection of the premises, examination of documentation and discussion and observation of food handling practices.

“There were a few areas where control over food safety hazards was lacking.

“I strongly recommend that documentation is supervised to ensure that controls critical to food safety are being properly implemented and maintained.”

It was noted that documentation provided to inspectors were “not reflective of some of the practices and procedures implemented on the premises” and contained discrepancies.

Cleaning checklists for a meat slicer had lapsed earlier in the month and had several missing entries and a soap dispenser had been recorded as broken for a week.

Refrigeration and freezer checks were incomplete and ward checklists had not been completed for a number of weeks. Fridge shelves were sticky and a portion of Tikka Masala Sauce was found in the dry goods store with a best before date of July 2017.

And raw meat on the premises were not labelled with a use-by date.

The report stated: “Staff must check the durability date on all foods within the premises on a daily basis. If food is going out of date at the end of that working day, it should be disposed of at the end of the shift so that staff cannot accidentally use it the following day.

“If staff are not appropriately labelling an disposing of food, re-training is required.”

Seeping water next to a floor hatch was also noted as being black with a “foul” smell.

And badly dented cans of food were discovered in the dry goods store.

The report said: “When cans containing acid food are damaged this may result in deterioration of the inner surfaces resulting in elevated levels of tin in the food.

“The food within these cans will also no longer be sterile and may support the growth of food poisoning bacteria. When receiving products from your suppliers, you must examine the condition of the packaging and any damaged items should be rejected.

“Adequate procedures are to be in place to control pests. Adequate procedures are also to be in place to prevent domestic animals from having access where food is prepared, handled and stored.

“On observation of available pest control records it was noted that your pest control contractor had identified spider beetles in the dry goods store.

The report left recommended that a treatment should be carried out.

“You must arrange for the appropriate treatment/works to be undertaken to remove the presence of spider beetles in the dry goods store.”

The visit came just five months after it was revealed a catalogue of hygiene failures at ARI’s kitchen had halted production of cold food for six months.

An NHS Grampian spokeswoman today said: “Following an inspection earlier this week, Environmental Health has issued the ARI kitchen with a pass certificate.

“We completed the requirements of the August report, with the exception of one point which has been actioned and will be completed shortly.

“We take the safe and hygienic preparation of food for our patients very seriously. Patients, relatives, staff and any other visitors to our sites should continue to have full confidence in the quality and standard of the food we produce.”