A new report by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) in Scotland has found that around 30 schools in East Ayrshire are failing on food hygiene standards.
After a recent round of inspections, it was revealed that the schools in question had been serving their students meals from kitchens that aren’t meeting the required hygiene standards. The schools in need of better food hygiene training and other improvements to food safety management systems have been named and shamed online, and five have even been told that they must improve urgently or they could face further action from the FSA in Scotland.
Local newspaper, the Kilmarnock Standard, uncovered details on what had gone wrong at the schools which had failed food hygiene checks. Problems included overflowing rubbish bins, walls and ceilings in kitchens in a poor condition, risks of food contamination, risks of ‘pests’ entering food preparation environments, incorrect temperatures in fridges and poor food safety records.
Explaining the decision to publish details of offending schools online, the East Ayrshire council said that it is:
“…a way of seeing inside the kitchens of your favorite eating establishments and getting some behind the scenes information”.
“The results can, at times, be very surprising,”
