environmental health visit!

[TinyTinker]

Just had mine! He pointed out a few things I need to change, but had no idea they were wrong! lol.

I need to remove my plants out of the kitchen and not have the recycling boxes in there and can't have anything on the surfaces (like tea bag and coffee and sugar jars etc).

He also pointed out my extractor fan needing cleaning and said can you see those finger prints on the door of this cupboard (could only see them when you tilted a certain way in the light

So my kitchen is to be cleared of all plants and a bit more cleaning needed up high! oopsey!

He said he can imagine it's hard not to have things out as it is a very small kitchen.

Felt a bit bad having someone come in and poke holes in my kitchen, but hey I guess it has to be done

[mama2three]

Good job I never had the same inspector as you - sounds like a bit of a jobsworth! Mine hardly looked in the kitchen at all , was much more interested in whether I was following the guidance in safer food better business!

[suzyjane73]

What's this??? Do environmental health come and look around your house too? No one's ever mentioned this to me??

[sarah32]

Just had mine! He pointed out a few things I need to change, but had no idea they were wrong! lol.

I need to remove my plants out of the kitchen and not have the recycling boxes in there and can't have anything on the surfaces (like tea bag and coffee and sugar jars etc).

He also pointed out my extractor fan needing cleaning and said can you see those finger prints on the door of this cupboard (could only see them when you tilted a certain way in the light

So my kitchen is to be cleared of all plants and a bit more cleaning needed up high! oopsey!

He said he can imagine it's hard not to have things out as it is a very small kitchen.

Felt a bit bad having someone come in and poke holes in my kitchen, but hey I guess it has to be done

Oh well, the inspector isnt going to like my kitchen then, the window ledge is full of plants and I have jars of all sorts on the side and im not changing a thing

[mrsmaggy]

Oh well, the inspector isnt going to like my kitchen then, the window ledge is full of plants and I have jars of all sorts on the side and im not changing a thing

Same here with the jars...we live in a house not factory and will not change my home for NO ONE!!

[rickysmiths]

What's this??? Do environmental health come and look around your house too? No one's ever mentioned this to me??

You have to Register with your councils Environmental Health Dept as a Food Premesis They are then permitted to do an inspection of your 'Food Premesis', your home.

You can order this publication free from the Food Standards Agency, it is the one we are all recommended to have.


http://www.food.gov.uk/foodindustry/...bchildminders/

[rickysmiths]

Just had mine! He pointed out a few things I need to change, but had no idea they were wrong! lol.

I need to remove my plants out of the kitchen and not have the recycling boxes in there and can't have anything on the surfaces (like tea bag and coffee and sugar jars etc).

He also pointed out my extractor fan needing cleaning and said can you see those finger prints on the door of this cupboard (could only see them when you tilted a certain way in the light

So my kitchen is to be cleared of all plants and a bit more cleaning needed up high! oopsey!

He said he can imagine it's hard not to have things out as it is a very small kitchen.

Felt a bit bad having someone come in and poke holes in my kitchen, but hey I guess it has to be done

What a nutcase. No way i'm clearing all my surfaces or my plants. My potatoes are chitting on my kitchen window sil

[TinyTinker]

I have a month to put the changes in place he requested and then he's going to re-visit unannounced!

I thought he was a bit thorough too, but hey as he reminded me it is no longer my personal kitchen if I am providing food to mindees it's a food business and should be treated like one

My kitchen doesn't look quite the same without my plants

oh and the best one was, he said I couldn't dry the kids paint brushes on the window sill and my door bell not working and the leaves in the outside flower bed made a bad first impression for my customers get him!

My 'customers' can't be that worried cos I'm full

[sarah707]

Plants in the kitchen is a biggie because of the potential for soil contamination.

Now we are registered as a food business it's one of the things they pick up on a lot.

Having things out on surfaces is usually ok so long as you don't prepare food on the surface they are on...

So you could have a tea making surface and a food prep surface... otherwise there's potential for cross contamination.

He had absolutely no right to comment on the front of your house! I would speak up about that next time he comes.

Hugs x

[nic t]

Out of interest do they normally give you warning before they come?

What a cheeky so and so commenting on the outside of your house.

[Deb]

We dont have an inspector in post at the moment. which is nice. There are 700 minders in my city, and only 2 have ever been inspected I'd like to keep it that way.

[wendywu]

[

oh and the best one was, he said I couldn't dry the kids paint brushes on the window sill and my door bell not working and the leaves in the outside flower bed made a bad first impression for my customers get him!

My 'customers' can't be that worried cos I'm full

[/QUOTE]


Cheeky ******,

[rickysmiths]

Plants in the kitchen is a biggie because of the potential for soil contamination.

Now we are registered as a food business it's one of the things they pick up on a lot.

Having things out on surfaces is usually ok so long as you don't prepare food on the surface they are on...

So you could have a tea making surface and a food prep surface... otherwise there's potential for cross contamination.

He had absolutely no right to comment on the front of your house! I would speak up about that next time he comes.

Hugs x

I'm sorry but you may be right Sarah but this is my home not an institution a restaurant or hotel catering for hundreds and I would have a massive issue with an inspector like this one.

Im lucky I have a brand new, very large kitchen, playmate will tell you, but I am sitting here looking at a Bread Bin, a metal basket of cutlery, a fruit bowl, a wooden knife block, a salt pig, a tall pepper mill, my chopping boards all, my Microwave, housed along 30' of work surface.

Oh no now there is a carrier bag of bread, a mobile, a sheet of paper, a bunch of keys and an old recipe book

I have a small plant by my Hob and 3 plants, 2 pots of bulbs and parsley on my only window sil above my sink and no where near any food prep areas.

If he is so picky then he should be advising no washing machine in the kitchen because of the cross contamination of dirty clothes and we should all have two sinks, one for hand washing only.

If you have no utility room, I am now lucky enough to have one where I have a sink and my washing machine is in it, but if you don't and dont have a downstair loo, where does he expect paint brushes to be washed and dried?

I can see cms trailling upstairs to the bathroom The key is to keep everything throughly clean and if you have to clean paint brushes in the kitchen sink, heaven forbid you make sure it is clean before you peel the potatoes for lunch.

What about B&Bs then? We have stayed in many a small one when we have had breakfast at a table in the kitchen, with the dog and cat sitting at our feet, muddy wellies by the door and all manner of clutter on the work surfaces. We have had fab breakfasts and never had food poisoning.
I was told when I reg with our local EH that CMs were in the same Low Risk Cat as B & Bs.

I think this inspector was/is a jobs worth and I would be telling him a few home truths. I would keep him waiting on the doorstep when he returns and apologise about having to change a nappy! i thought they had to make an appointment to visit cms? Thats what out EH Officer told us.

[sarah707]

Ricky I totally agree with you on this one.

However EHOs do have the power to shut childminders down if they do not comply with their requirements

I was under the impression (many moons ago now) that the NCMA were trying to lobby to get all childminders treated the same way so that there was a universal check in place... and that ended up as the booklet 'Safer Food Better Business for Childminders'.

Perhaps their remit should be stretched to include supporting childminders like Bluehouse?

[TheBTeam]

I can see cms trailling upstairs to the bathroom The key is to keep everything throughly clean and if you have to clean paint brushes in the kitchen sink, heaven forbid you make sure it is clean before you peel the potatoes for lunch.

This made me laugh cos some of the children we have had would not eat the potatoes but love to eat the paint, so they would be more worried about the potatoes contaminating the paint!!!!!!!!!!!

[rickysmiths]

This made me laugh cos some of the children we have had would not eat the potatoes but love to eat the paint, so they would be more worried about the potatoes contaminating the paint!!!!!!!!!!!

[rickysmiths]

[QUOTE=sarah707;878259]Ricky I totally agree with you on this one.

However EHOs do have the power to shut childminders down if they do not comply with their requirements

I was under the impression (many moons ago now) that the NCMA were trying to lobby to get all childminders treated the same way so that there was a universal check in place... and that ended up as the booklet 'Safer Food Better Business for Childminders'.

Perhaps their remit should be stretched to include supporting childminders like Bluehouse?



Maybe, because it does sound as if he has gone a step too far. They surely have to prove beyond doubt that there is a genuine cause for concern/danger to mindees to close you down, in my experience you have to be pretty dire for that to happen.

In BlueHouses shoes I would be asking for a different inspector to give a second opinion.

[miffy]

This thread is enough to put anyone off registering with Environmental Health - I thought they were supposed to make allowances for the fact that it is our home they are inspecting not a food premises!

Sorry Bluehouse but your EHO sounds like a right pain in the proverbial - what a shame he's coming back!

Miffy xx

[TinyTinker]

^ have to agree!

We felt quite insulted after the visit!

[rickysmiths]

^ have to agree!

We felt quite insulted after the visit!

I'm not surprised I would have told him what for I worked in the catering indusrty for years. Most good cms homes are such a low risk they are off the bottom of the scale.

In our area our Chief EHO nearly wet himself when he was forced to Register all cms. There are nearly 1800 in Herts and the EHOs weren't given any more staff. The result is that they along with most authorities will never visit all cms. Two years ago when we had to register they did 4 inspections in our town out of 50-60 cms and as far as our group know no one have been done since.

The reality is they have much more to have concerns about than the cms believe me, I have worked with EHOs and it is horrifying what you see. I can't believe any cms kitchen would be anything like as bad. We wouldn't get past Ofsted


I would phone and speak to the inspectors boss and question the unanounced follow up visit that he has threatened , the whole tone of the inspection, the carping comments on the outside of the house which are not in his remit and non of his business .This guy was way out of order and was rude to you in your home. They are not supposed to do this to us. anyone r
Unless there was a complaint and a very serious cause for concern or an out break of Food Poisoning reported. I would insist on an appointment if there is really a need for a second visit and a different inspector as the original inspector is not welcome in your HOME.

That you have no trust in the man at all and because he was so rude you, can't risk him bumping into one of your parents and giving them unnecessary cause for concern or him being rude to them because it could lose you business.

Unlike a commercial organisation like a nursery, you are not at home all the time. If they turn up unannounced and you are not there he is wasting Tax Payers money.