REHIS News

Midsummer, a magical in time Scotland where we can expect to enjoy over 17 hours of glorious daylight each day. On the longest day (21 June this year if you’re curious), the sun will barely set at all in some places. In fact, in the North, on a good day, it’s possible to watch the sun rise before it goes below the horizon… or maybe that’s on a good two days? Can be hard to get your head around that marvel.

Frozen corn and possibly other frozen vegetables are the likely source of an outbreak of Listeria monocytogenes that has been affecting five EU Member States Austria, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, and the United Kingdom since 2015.

This is the conclusion of a rapid outbreak assessment by European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).

The public is being asked to shape a deposit return scheme for drinks containers as a way of reducing plastic pollution.

People would pay a small deposit when they buy a drink in a single-use container and get that money back when it is returned empty.

A consultation on a Deposit Return Scheme for Scotland asks for views on questions including:
• How much the deposit should be
• where people could return items
• what sort of materials and products should be included

Charges brought against three out of five companies following an outbreak of Legionnaires Disease in the west of Edinburgh have been dropped.

The legal case against the North British Distillery Company Limited, Pera Services Limited and Chemtech Consultancy Limited ended on 29 June when not guilty pleas were accepted.

The five companies were originally charged under the Health and Safety at Work Act after allegedly exposing people to the legionnaires bacteria.

An Argyll and Bute hotel owner plans to serve burgers made with midges to his customers.

David Keat, who owns the Brander Lodge Hotel near Oban, said he would harvest the midges from the hotel's midge exterminator machines. The burgers would be dipped in a coat of midges, like breadcrumbs, and a special secret ingredient added.

The plans are due to be considered by Environmental Health from Argyll and Bute Council.

The Crown Office has decided not to carry out a fatal accident inquiry (FAI) into the death of a three-year-old girl during an outbreak of E.coli O157 in 2016.

The Crown Office had previously said South Lanarkshire-based Errington Cheese would not face prosecution over the child's death. The firm's Dunsyre Blue was named the most likely source of the outbreak.

The Crown Office said it had considered "all the relevant matters" it decided this was not a case where an FAI was required.

Further actions to stop young people taking up smoking and raise a tobacco-free generation have been outlined.

The Scottish Government’s updated Tobacco Control Action Plan sets out 44 specific actions to address health inequalities and cut smoking rates in the communities where people find it most difficult to quit.

These include legislating to restrict smoking around hospital buildings, banning tobacco in prisons and establishing a new national brand for the stop-smoking service.

The Food Standards Agency has begun an investigation following claims that traces of meat were found in food classified as vegan or vegetarian.

The Daily Telegraph tested ten vegan and vegetarian products at Tesco and Sainsbury's and found meat in two.

According to the newspaper's investigation, a German government-accredited food testing laboratory found traces of pork in Sainsbury's branded Meat Free Meatballs, and traces of turkey in Tesco's Wicked Kitchen BBQ butternut macaroni cheese meal.

NHS Health Scotland has published the latest data on Scotland’s relationship with alcohol. 

The report, ‘Monitoring and Evaluating Scotland’s Alcohol Strategy: Monitoring Report 2018’ found that 10.2 litres of pure alcohol were sold per adult in Scotland, equivalent to 19.6 units per adult per week. This means that enough alcohol was sold last year in Scotland for every adult to exceed the weekly guideline by 40%, every week of the year.

Hotfoot it to The Mound, East George Street and the Assembly Rooms in Edinburgh on Thursday 21 June for the start of a free two-day Summer Summit to mark National Clean Air Day.

REHIS will be heavily involved in the event with our Chief Executive Tom Bell’s keynote speech at the Air Quality, Public Health and Transport seminar on the afternoon of the first day.

National Clean Air Day itself is a nationwide awareness-raising day about air pollution aimed at helping making the air cleaner and healthier for everyone.