annual report - City of Bayswater

Environmental health
Food monitoring
and inspections
The City’s Environmental Health
Section monitors premises that
prepare food for sale, to ensure
compliance with State and local
laws and regulations.
The City’s environmental health
officers are responsible for
implementing a food sampling
program and undertaking routine
food premise inspections to ensure
that a high level of food hygiene
is maintained.
There are around 320 food
premises within the City and
officers aim to undertake up to
four routine inspections of all
high risk food premises within the
City each year. Those premises
which are found to be noncompliant
with the regulations
are inspected on a more frequent
basis, to ensure that standards are
continuously improved.
The routine food sampling program
aims to ensure that food sold within
the City is of an acceptable standard
and is safe for consumption. A total
of 83 food samples were collected
and submitted for bacteriological
and chemical analysis and complaint
investigation during 2008-09.
The majority of the results were
satisfactory; however 11 required
follow-up action and one has been
listed for prosecution.
With the development of new food
legislation, known as the Food
Act 2008, a new food sampling
scheme has been introduced, which
requires each local authority to
conduct routine sampling of all food
manufacturers within their jurisdiction.
Food recalls
During 2008-09 the Department of
Health issued 25 product recalls.
Certain product recalls required
immediate follow-up action by
the City’s officers, to ensure that
they were removed from sale and
disposed of correctly.
Northern food
monitoring group
The City is currently a member
of the Northern Food Monitoring
Group (NFMG). The NFMG consists
of 11 representatives from local
government and one representative
from the Department of Health. The
NFMG met on a quarterly basis to
organise large scale food surveillance
programs and discuss common food
related issues.
The City was involved in the following
NFMG food surveys during 2008-09:
• microbiological quality of readyto-eat
deli foods; and
• country of origin labelling.
Light industry
auditing program
The City, in conjunction with
Perth Region Natural Resource
Management and the Department
of Environment and Conservation,
worked to control industrial pollution
and the illegal dumping of materials.
The aim of the program was to stop
the contamination of our main drains
and the Swan River by limiting the
pollution by businesses in the area.
An audit of businesses revealed
56 premises did not conform to
the requirements of the relevant
regulations. More than 38 percent
were mechanical repairers,
14 percent were smash repairers,
9 percent were wreckers, 7 percent
were spray painters and 31.5 percent
were general types of businesses.
Non-compliant businesses
31.5%
7%
9%
Mechanical
Smash repairs
Wreckers
14%
38.5%
Spray Painters
Other
Jessica Ngo, Environmental Health services
20 city of bayswater annual report 2008-09