Health alert over online takeaway ‘dark kitchens’
Cooks let loose with no allergy or hygiene expertise
WATCHDOGS are warning of a new health threat posed by ‘dark kitchens’ selling takeout food online.
People without training in hygiene or allergies are selling through social media such as Facebook Marketplace.
They are tapping into a growing appetite for home delivery that was started by deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber Eats.
So great is the explosion in demand that even major businesses such as Mcdonald’s have set up ‘dark kitchens’, which do not have a restaurant attached and operate from trading estates.
While these are legitimate and well policed, others are operated out of home kitchens by people with no training. Curries, pasta dishes and party food made in home kitchens are being sold without clear information on ingredients, which is risky for allergy sufferers.
The Food Standards Agency has put Facebook on notice that it expects food sold through its services to be policed correctly. Last week the FSA said the number of people who fall ill from eating tainted food was 2.4million.
A total of 380,000 food-borne illnesses a year are caused by the winter vomiting bug norovirus – with almost two thirds linked to eating out or takeaway meals. Food businesses are required to register with their local council for hygiene and standards, receiving a rating from zero to five.
There are fears that some businesses, which score badly on hygiene, have sold food through the major delivery services without declaring this to customers.
Just Eat is now displaying hygiene ratings and all new services must score three or above. UberEats also displays ratings.
The FSA’s head of regulatory compliance, Michael Jackson, said the watchdog is speaking to Facebook about consumer protection.
‘Everyone involved in online marketplace selling must meet their responsibilities to ensure food is safe and what it says it is,’ he said. ‘Anyone selling food online on an organised basis must be registered as a food business with their local authority.
‘Our advice when ordering food online is to check the business has a food hygiene rating and choose only a rating of three or above.’ Cuts in council funding mean standards and hygiene checks have been cut, with the number of council food standards staff falling by 45 per cent between 2012-13 and 2017-18. Just 37 per cent of standards checks – designed to ensure food is what it says it is – were carried out in 2017-18.
There was also a 13 per cent fall in hygiene inspectors.
Councillor Simon Blackburn, chairman of the Local Government Association’s Safer and Stronger Communities Board, said: ‘Significant funding pressures make it extremely difficult for some councils to maintain previous levels of food work.
‘There is a pressing need for Government to come up with a sustainable funding model for food regulation’
Facebook Marketplace allows users to post free advertisements to sell a range of goods. Facebook said: ‘Sellers must comply with all applicable laws and regulations.’