REHIS News

New guidelines have been published for acrylamide in food by Food Standards Scotland in partnership with SFELC Food Safety and Food Standards Sub Committees. 

The guidelines are intended to help authorised officers with the implementation and interpretation of Commission Regulation (EU) 2017/2158. 

Environmental Health at East Renfrewshire Council have created a short video in a bid to raise awareness of allergen information requirements for food businesses. 

The video aimed at food businesses and consumers aims to ensure that they are aware of the allergen requirements and they can trust the food they buy and are protected. 

The video can be viewed here.

Following publication of the document titled ‘Guidance for Local Authority Enforcement Officers on the Production of Cheese from Unpasteurised Milk’, by the SFELC Joint Specialist Cheese & Risky Foods Short-Life Working Group in October 2018, a new Version 2 of the guidance has been produced and ratified at the SFELC meeting on Friday 26 April 2019.  

Clean Air Day Scotland website has now gone live and the toolkits can be downloaded from here. 

Clean Air Day is happening on Thursday 20 June 2019. The website brings together years of experience and expert advice to create lots of free resources which will contribute to the success of Clean Air Day.

At the recent REHIS Annual Environmental Health forum at New Lanark delegates had the pleasure of welcoming Lawson Wight from the Burnright campaign.

Burnright is the national consumer awareness campaign to promote efficient domestic burning.

Many consumers are unaware that the way they use their fuels and fires can make a big difference to air quality. Burnright has created a website with lots of useful information, videos etc. where consumers can learn how to “Get it Right” and make a big difference.

Levels of second-hand smoke in Scotland’s prisons fell by more than 80 percent in the week after smoking was banned, according to new University of Stirling research.

The study confirms the positive impact of the smoke-free policy, introduced in November 2018, on the air quality within Scotland’s 15 prisons. The researchers compared smoke levels to measurements taken in 2016.

The study was led by Stirling’s Institute of Social Marketing (ISM), and involved the University of Glasgow and conducted in partnership with the Scottish Prison Service

Scotland is the first country in the UK to announce its plans for a deposit return scheme for drinks containers.

Scotland’s new Deposit Return Scheme will include aluminium and steel cans as well as drinks containers made of glass and Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic with a 20p deposit as part of plans to combat climate change.

The ambitious scheme is based on successful international equivalents and will be widely accessible, with all shops which sell drinks offering deposit refunds to customers.

Renewable electricity generation in Scotland reached record levels in 2018. The latest figures from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) show, the equivalent of 74.6% of gross electricity consumption was from renewable sources.

Generation in Scotland was 26,708 GWh, a 6.1% increase on the previous record in 2017. This output of electricity is the equivalent of powering all households in Scotland for more than two-and-a-half years.

The latest statistics also show:

The health claims made on the product packaging for a large proportion of foods marketed to children in the UK are 'confusing', and could be contributing to increases rates of childhood obesity, suggests research published online in the journal Archives of Disease in Childhood.

University of Glasgow researchers examined products with child-focused imagery and health and nutrition claims on the product packaging.

The world’s first Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) came into force in London on Monday 8 April.

Shortly after it came into operation in London the Mayor, Sadiq Khan, revealed it has already reduced harmful pollution levels.

The Mayor’s office reported that concentrations of roadside N02 have been reduced in the zone by 20% and the scheme, which started on 8 April, is predicted to reduce it by 45% eventually.