Category: News Item

The 6th Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health is taking place this week in Ostrava, Czechia.

These series of ministerial conferences are held every five years and are coordinated by WHO/Europe. The conferences are unique, bringing together different sectors to shape European policies and actions on environment and health.

The most recent conference took place in Parma, Italy, in 2010, this resulted Parma Declaration. Governments of the 53 European Member States set clear targets to reduce the adverse health impact of environmental threats in the next decade.

This year, participants including health and environment ministers and high-level representatives of WHO European Member States society, will consider new evidence demonstrating that preserving the environment is essential to the survival of mankind. They will also recognise the cross-border nature of environmental challenges and the necessity of focusing actions not only at the national level but also at subnational and city levels. They will look at the importance of identifying those most vulnerable to environmental challenges and the need for good governance, which includes involving stakeholders and citizens.

Follow and join the social media conversation in Ostrava by using #EuropeEnvHealth.

Almost 1 in 10 people worldwide fall ill every year after eating contaminated food which commonly causes bacterial diarrhoea, resulting in 230 000 deaths each year.

In an article published in Eurosurveillance, PulseNet International advocates for public health institutes and laboratories around the world to move together towards the use of whole genome sequencing (WGS) to improve detection of and response to foodborne illnesses and outbreaks. This will save lives and money due to the superior ability of WGS to link human cases with contaminated food sources.

PulseNet International is a global network of public health laboratory networks, dedicated to bacterial foodborne disease surveillance. The network is comprised of the national and regional laboratory networks of USA, Canada, Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe, Africa, the Middle-East and Asia Pacific. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) manages the EU/EEA food- and waterborne diseases and zoonoses network of public health institutes and laboratories, which work to ensure comparability of data and further ties to the global health community.

Mike Catchpole, Chief Scientist at ECDC says, “it is important for all partners worldwide to continue to work together towards the implementation and standardised analysis of whole genome sequencing.”

The article also states that a global standard method for primary sequence data analysis based on whole genome Multiple Locus Sequence Typing (wgMLST) and derived public nomenclature will be adopted. This will facilitate the sharing of information within regional and global public health laboratory networks, increasing efficiency and enabling data to be compared across countries in real-time which is currently not the case. This is especially important due to international travel and trade.

Common steps for validation studies, development of standardised protocols, quality assurance programmes and nomenclature have been agreed.

Source: Moving towards better global foodborne disease surveillance

National Clean Air Day Today, 15 June, marks the UK’s first ever National Clean Air Day which is intended to bring focus to what we can do about air pollution- to both protect our health and reduce air pollution.

What is National Clean Air Day?

Air pollution is real and harms the health of millions. Unlike other risks to our health, lots of people don’t know what causes air pollution, what effects it has on our bodies or how to reduce our exposure to it.

But there are lots of simple things we can to do improve air quality and look after our own and other people’s health.

That’s what National Clean Air Day is all about. It’s a change to find out more about air pollution, share information with your friends and colleagues, and take action to make the air cleaner and healthier for everyone.

What is REHIS doing to tackle air pollution?

Positive action on air quality will only be realised through strong partnership working between Scottish Government, local authorities, and Regional Transport partnerships.

REHIS’s working group Scottish Pollution Control Co-Ordinating Committee (SPCCC), is an example of where working closely with partnership agencies is already in place.

The SPCCC was set up by REHIS and local authorities in 1991 to support and promote consistency and co-ordination of enforcement activity across a wide range of legislative powers tackle pollution matters such as air pollution.

Its remit covers air pollution along with contaminated land, noise pollution and waste management. There are four regional local pollution liaison groups who all feed into the SPCCC. Other notable interested parties come along to SPCCC including; Air Quality Scottish Government representative, Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) and the Scottish Transport Emission Partnership (STEP).

These strong multi-agency efforts are necessary to reduce air pollution; as with the stringent values set and with the transboundary nature of air pollution, this issue cannot be tackled alone.

How can you get involved?

REHIS is getting involved by helping spread the word on our Twitter @rehisscotland.

Why not help spread the word on Social Media by using #NationalCleanAirDay to get millions of people talking about it. There is also a National Clean Air Day event on Facebook to promote the day too.

Find out more ways to get involved on National Clean Air Day website. There you will find lots of information on air pollution, what is already being done to tackle air pollution, ways you can take action, and toolkits that can be used to get involved.

School students are completing their REHIS Elementary Food Hygiene qualification as part of their two day “Let’s Get Cooking” course.

Let’s Get Cooking in Scotland with funding from Big Lottery’s Young Start Fund the Children’s Food Trust are working in partnership with 17 secondary schools across five local authorities. There are now Let’s Get Cooking Clubs in Glasgow, Edinburgh, North Lanarkshire, East Dunbartonshire and West Dunbartonshire.

In March 2017, 18 students (S3-S5) took part in a two day Let’s Get Cooking Course to become student cooking club leaders. A staff volunteer from each school was also trained, so that their new cooking clubs have ongoing support. Students also completed their REHIS Elementary Food Hygiene qualification. These student leaders are now delivering cooking activities and sharing their knowledge with others.

The feedback received from staff and students alike was extremely positive. One pupil beamed at how much confidence they had taken from the training, whilst one teacher said it was ‘the best course’ she had been on ‘over the last 10 years’.

You can register to become a Friends of Let’s Get Cooking. It’s free to join– no commitment, no strings – and you’ll get:

· practical guides and resources to download – covering safety, nutrition, demonstration techniques, food customs and more

· early-bird information about our annual BIG Cookathon

· e-newsletters packed with ideas, information and competitions

· news from the Children’s Food Trust and its partners about food waste, cooking on a budget, school food and other linked topics

· alerts about changes to relevant legislation, such as food labelling and allergen information.

Scotland’s new bathing water season began on 1 June 2017 with the good news that 87% of Scotland’s bathing waters have achieved strict European water quality standards.

The final classifications, now issued by the EU, show that out of the 84 officially designated bathing waters in Scotland in 2016:

• 26 have been rated as ‘excellent’ (up from 17 previous season)

• 36 are classed as ‘good’

• 11 have achieved the ‘sufficient’ standard

• 11 have been rated as ‘poor’ (down from 17 previous season)

Overall water quality has improved again for the start of the new bathing water season, with nine additional bathing waters meeting the much tighter excellent water quality standards. The new classifications will be displayed by SEPA and Local Authorities across Scotland’s beaches until mid-September. Tailored improvement plans, prepared by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) reflecting collaboration with its partners, are ongoing at each of the bathing waters rated as ‘poor’ to raise all designated bathing waters across Scotland to the new standards by 2020.

Gairloch Beach and Sand Beach, in the north west of Scotland, have been designated by Scottish Government for the first time and this summer SEPA will be monitoring water quality at these sites. Official bathing water designation enables action to be taken to ensure the bathing water meets the standards to protect public health.

Monifieth will join the network of bathing waters which have electronic signs this year, providing daily real-time water quality information. This real-time water quality information, now available across a total of 29 locations, is also available via SEPA’s website, smartphone app and Beachline number.

Calum McPhail, from SEPA’s Environmental Quality Unit, said:

“Today marks the start of the third bathing water season under the stricter water quality standards of the Bathing Water Directive, and it is good to see that there has been a reduction in the number of bathing waters classified as poor, and a general improvement across the other classifications.

While this is great progress, we understand that some local communities will be disappointed, as we are, that there are 11 bathing waters which have been rated as having a ‘poor’ EU classification.It is important to remember that a ‘poor’ classification does not necessarily mean that water quality is continually poor.

These are still fantastic beaches to visit, and we are working with the Scottish Government and our key partner organisations to help all of Scotland’s bathing waters to avoid ‘poor’ classifications.To help with this, we have formed five new stakeholder partnership groups around Scotland which are focused on working together across organisations and local communities to ensure that we all coordinate actions and identify activities to solve problems or address factors which may contribute to causes of poor water quality at key locations.

Our challenge now is to continue to build upon the progress made over the years and bring all of Scotland’s bathing waters up to, at least, the ‘sufficient’ standard through further investment and infrastructure improvements, along with managing pressures from rural and diffuse pollution and by engaging with communities.We hope lots of people will take the opportunity to enjoy Scotland’s bathing waters this summer.

Our network of electronic information signs are now available at a total of 29 locations across Scotland to help even more people make informed decisions about whether to use bathing waters than ever before.”

Environment Secretary Roseanna Cunningham said:

“This is great news for Scotland’s seaside resorts and comes as many of us look forward to summer visits to our beautiful beaches.

This shows the hard work of local authorities, communities, SEPA and the Scottish Government is achieving results.

This kind of partnership working is important as many local economies depend on beach tourism.I would encourage people to stay safe and take a look at the online guidance so they can get the most out of Scotland’s bathing waters.”

The data behind the new classifications can be accessed and visualised using the bathing waters data explorer tool on Scotland’s Environment Web.

Source: http://media.sepa.org.uk/media-releases/2017/scotlands-bathing-water-season-begins/

A study from US researchers claim that using unheated water to wash your hands is as effective at killing bacteria as using hot water.

The small study of 20 people found using water at 15oC left hands as clean as water heated to 38oC.

The study was carried out by researchers at the Rutgers University-New Brunswick in New Jersey, and the results were published in the Journal of Food Protection.

The study examined the effect of various factors, such as soap volume, water temperature, lather time, and the hand washing efficacy of the soap as formulated on the product.

They asked 20 people consisting of 10 men and 10 women to wash their hands 20 times each with water that was 15oC, 26oC or 38oC.

Volunteers were also asked to experiment with varying amounts of soap – ranging from 0.5mm to 2mm.

Before they started the tests, their hands were covered in nonpathogenic strain of Escherichia coli ATCC 11229.

Researchers say there was no difference in the amount of bacteria removed as the temperature of the water or the amount of soap changed.

Prof Donald Schaffner said: “People need to feel comfortable when they are washing their hands but as far as effectiveness [goes], this study shows us that the temperature of the water used did not matter.”

However, the researchers accept their study is small and say more extensive work is needed to determine the best ways to remove harmful bacteria.

In the UK, NHS say people can use cold or hot water to wash their hands. They say hands should be washed for at least 20 seconds and stress the importance of using enough soap to cover the whole surface of the hands.

Their guidance focuses on rubbing hands together in various ways to make sure each surface of each hand is clean.

The NHS’s advice on washing your hands is as follows:

• Washing your hands properly should take about as long as singing Happy Birthday twice (about 20 seconds)
• Wet hands and apply enough soap to cover the whole surface of the hand
• Rub palms together with fingers interlaced
• Rub each palm over the back of the other hand with interlaced fingers
• Rub between fingers on each hand
• Rub backs of fingers (interlocked)
• Rub around each thumb
• Rub both palms with finger tips and then rinse with warm or cold water
• Dry your hands well, ideally with a disposable towel
• Use a disposable towel to turn off the tap

Dr Jim Smith, one of the Institute’s Honorary Vice-Presidents, visited the Institute’s offices in Edinburgh on 18 May this year at the start of a vocational trip around Europe.

Jim is a past President of Environmental Health Australia, an independent public health planning consultant, a public health policy adviser to local government in Australia and holds a number of academic appointments including that of Adjunct Associate Professor at La Trobe University and at Flinders University.

Jim and two associates, Vivian Lin and Sally Fawkes, have recently launched the second edition of their textbook Public Health Practice in Australia – The organised effort and Jim kindly donated a copy of this highly acclaimed textbook to the Institute’s library.

It was a real pleasure to welcome Jim, a longstanding friend of the Institute, to our offices.

We wish Jim and his wife Debbie, and Bernard and Linda Forteath bon voyage for their European sojourn.

Photo Tom Bell, Dr Jim Smith and Bernard Forteath.

REHIS is delighted to announce the signing of a new joint award between the Institute and TEENS+ called Healthy You, Healthy Me.

TEENS+ (Transitional Educational, Extra Needs Support) is a full-time further education facility for young, post-school adults with severe and complex learning difficulties.

Most of the students at TEENS+ have Autistic spectrum disorders and the added complications these disorders can bring. The students have various conditions with associated communication and learning difficulties in addition to sensory impairments. TEENS+ helps to develop life and social skills, provide further education, guide young people towards employment and/or independent living.

Leigh-Anne Hunter, a team Leader and part of the education team at Teens+ has developed a healthy eating, food hygiene and understanding food programme which is accessible to all of the students within Teens+.

The students are provided with a huge variety of communication tools to empower them to learn and express themselves effectively. Individual student knowledge is reviewed continually through personal tutorials, staff feedback on student progress, individual and group feedback.

The Healthy You Healthy Me programme is set out in a workbook portfolio for students to complete with staff to assist. Dependent on student abilities these are completed electronically or by hand. This will include the student’s baseline knowledge of core modules at the beginning and then summative knowledge at end. Students will carry out lessons in various food hygiene and nutrition topics.

Tom Bell, REHIS Chief Executive and Jackie McCabe, Director of Training recently visited Teens+ to meet with Leigh-Anne and some students currently undertaking the Healthy You Healthy Me joint award programme.

Photograph one (left to right)

Emma Jamesion, TEENS+ Education Director

Tom Bell, REHIS Chief Executive

Jackie McCabe, REHIS Director of Training

Leigh-Anne Hunter, TEENS+ Team Leader (Food)

Photograph two (left to right)

Jackie McCabe, REHIS Director of Training

Katrina Carruthers, TEENS+ Student

Leigh-Anne Hunter, TEENS+Team Leader (Food)

 Doctors writing in the British Medical Journal Case Reports said sushi’s growing popularity in the West could be linked to a rise in parasitic infections.

A team of doctors from Portugal raised concerns after a 32-year old man was admitted to hospital complaining of pain in his abdomen just below his ribs, vomiting and had a slight fever since the previous week.

An endoscopy revealed larvae of a worm-like parasite firmly attached to an area of swollen and inflamed gut lining. Microbiological analysis showed the larvae belong to the Anisakis spp. The worm Anisakis nematodes causes’ zoonosis Anisakiasis which invade the stomach wall or intestines of humans. It is caused by consumption of contaminated raw or undercooked fish or seafood.

Two views of the parasite, seen here firmly attached to an area of the patient’s upper gastrointestinal tract. Photograph: Carmo et al/BMJ case reports

A special kind of net was used to remove the larvae and the patient rapidly recovered.

The doctors added that most cases of anisakiasis to date had been reported in Japan but warned: “However, it has been increasing recognized in Western Countries”

EU food hygiene legislation requires fish that is to be eaten raw should be frozen before it is sold to consumers to ensure any parasite have been killed.

However, if making your own sushi from fish at home ensure that a reputable recipe is followed and the fish has been frozen for at least four days in a domestic freezer.

The year’s Annual Environmental Health Forum was held in Greenock on 26 and 27 April. The Forum seen public health bodies and industry coming together in the interests of “Building Better Futures” which was the theme of the event.

The event was held in the Beacon Art Centre which provided a beautiful backdrop as the room overlooked views of the Firth of Clyde.

The first day seen a fully packed day of speakers. First speaker Dr De Caestecker, Director of Public Health at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde discussed what actions are needed to tackle health inequalities.

Professor George Morris, Independent Environmental Health Consultant spoke about rethinking the environment in public health. While speaker Mary Stewart from Population Health Directorate at the Scottish Goverment key message was that environmental health professionals play a crucial role in Public Health Reform.

This was followed by a presentation from Lorraine Tulloch of Obesity Action Scotland that showed one in four adults are obese and in order to change the future we need a change in our environment.

Geoff Ogle, Chief Executive from Food Standards Scotland discussed the sustainability of the environmental health resource in Scotland and how we need to target our response where it is needed. After lunch seen the big debate of whether environmental health service in Scotland should be continued to be delivered by local authorities with Professor George Morris speaking for the motion and Billy Hamilton speaking against the motion.

Following this Megan McPherson, Public Health Advisor for NHS Health Scotland demonstrated the Place Standard tool which is designed to evaluate the quality of a place. Final speaker Dr Mulcahy gave a thought-provoking talk about human biomonitoring for environmental health being used for proving prevention works.

The second day of the event held workshop sessions on occupational health and safety; food safety/food standards; public health and housing and pollution control/environmental protection.

One of the morning workshops was on occupational health and safety and had talks from Douglas Richardson, Head of Living Collections at Highland Wildlife Park about health and safety in a zoo environment. Jill Shedden, Managing Director of Knockhill Racing Circuit discussed health and safety at the nations motorsport centre. Final talk of the workshop was from Kevin Sewell, Assistant Emergency Planning Officer of Scottish Borders Council about safety advisory group process.

The other morning workshop was on public health and housing with the first talk of the session from Dr Emily Tweed, Speciality Registrar in Public Health at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde who discussed reconnecting public health and housing in Scotland. Liz Dickson, Private Sector Officer of Scotland’s Housing Network asked whether our homes are fit for the 21st Century and Mel Skipp, Health Policy Manager at Carnival Corporation and PLC spoke about environmental health measures on cruise ships.

The afternoon session on food safety and food standards had a presentation from Wendy Barrie, Director of Food Guide and Scottish Cheese trail about the artisan cheese scene. Cat Hay, Policy and Industry Liaison Manager from Food Drink Federation Scotland gave a trade association view on challenges for food and drink manufactures. The final talk of the workshop was from Derek Oliver, Environmental Health Service Manager at East Lothian Council who spoke about food crime.

The other afternoon session was on pollution control and environmental protection and had talks from Edel Ryan, Environmental Health Manager at Midlothian Council talk about carbon dioxide from a mining legacy. Andrew Taylor, Air Quality Policy Manager for the Scottish Government gave an update on air quality. While Graeme Duff, Associate Director at EnviroCentre Limited spoke about regeneration of Kingston gasworks and boatyard.

The annual event was hailed a success by both attendees and speakers. It provided an excellent opportunity to hear about recent changes and updates in environmental health while also providing an opportunity to communicate and network with others in the profession.

We hope to see you all again next year. Presentations delivered at the Forum can be found here

Hepatitis A cases in Lanarkshire Update A reminder regarding the importance of good hand hygiene has come from NHS Lanarkshire’s department of public health, environmental health and other agencies as part of the investigation and management of a hepatitis A outbreak.

The number of confirmed cases has increased from nine to 42.

Most of the cases recall having consumed food produced by the baker JB Christie before mid-April, through its outlets in Airdrie and Coatbridge.

As a precautionary measure, public health officials are continuing to raise awareness of the infection risk to help them identify other possible cases. Dr Femi Oshin, NHS Lanarkshire consultant in public health medicine, said: “While our investigations continue, we want to remind people that although the risk of contracting the infection is low, anyone who has experienced a flu-like illness, loss of appetite, nausea, fever, abdominal pains or jaundice (a yellowing of the eyes or skin), should contact their GP or, if out of hours, contact NHS24 by dialling 111.

“The investigation and assessment at the bakery indicated that products produced and sold between Monday 20 March and Thursday 13 April may have been affected, which is why we are advising anyone who ate bakery products which were produced by JB Christie between these dates, and who experiences the above symptoms, to contact their GP or, if out of hours, contact NHS24 on 111.

"A special helpline has been set up to help the public with general information about hepatitis A and about this outbreak. The freephone number for the helpline is 0800 028 2816 and it is open from 8am to 10pm daily.

“The bakery fully cooperated with our investigation and undertook additional control measures agreed by NHS Lanarkshire and North Lanarkshire Council, which enabled it to resume trading on Tuesday 2 May.”

As an additional precaution, the bakery also voluntarily disposed of all its fresh ingredients and any food stuffs which could transmit infection.

There are currently no public health concerns regarding the safety of food produced by the bakery. All 42 cases have had a medical assessment and of those patients who required hospital admission almost all have been discharged home.

Dr Oshin continued: “Hepatitis A is usually a food borne virus which can be spread by hand to mouth contact when there is poor hand hygiene. “As such, one of the best ways to prevent the spread of the hepatitis A infection is good hand hygiene – thorough hand washing and drying. “We would like to remind everyone that they can protect themselves by washing their hands, particularly after visiting the toilet and before preparing or eating food.”

Source: http://www.nhslanarkshire.org.uk/news/news/Pages/hepatitisAupdate.aspx

Inspections carried out by Environmental Health Officers from Aberdeen City Council found several instances of potential cross contamination at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary in their main production kitchen.

Initial inspections and revisits of the hospital kitchen were carried out in September last year and revealed several cross contamination issues during cold food preparation. Consequently several items of prepared ready-to-eat foods were voluntary disposed of at the time. Remedial Action Notices were also served for prohibiting the production of cold open ready-to-eat foods and also the use of the ready-to-eat meat slicer.

The cross contamination issues encountered were; storage of raw and ready to eat foods with raw sausages stored beside cooked chicken; lack of procedures for preparing ready to eat vegetables; lack of separate, designated and readily identifiable equipment for raw and ready to eat food; deficiencies in cleaning procedures and inadequate training of staff.

A revisit was made in January by Environmental Health Officers and took 21 swabs which all passed microbiological examination. However, a follow up inspection in February noted issues with cross contamination, stock control, cleanliness and no hot or cold water in a wash-hand basin. A further revisit was made in April to assess compliance with the enforcement notices and as the catering team had spent significant time and effort improving the Food Safety Management System and associated procedures both notices were withdrawn.

NHS Grampian said there was no evidence the health of any patients suffered but it has improved equipment and training. They also stated that significant investment has been made in new equipment and staff training.

A spokeswoman said: “We take the safe and hygienic preparation of food for our patients very seriously.

“It must be remembered that at no time was the kitchen at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary closed, nor was this ever suggested.

“There is absolutely no evidence that the health of any patient and/or staff members was affected, in fact swabs were taken on two occasions and submitted for microbiological examination and all swabs came back clear.

“That being said, we clearly fell below statutory standards – and our own standards – during these inspections which is very disappointing.

“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.”