Ealing Council has reported that 88% of its 3,500 food businesses are compliant with food hygiene standards. The figure was revealed during a General Purposes Committee meeting on Wednesday, 9 July 2025, where the committee reviewed the Food Service Plan for 2025-2026.
During the meeting, Izabela Gregory noted that London boroughs generally experienced a backlog of inspections due to the pandemic, but Ealing is performing well compared to its neighbours.
The Food Service Plan, presented by Councillor Kamaljit Kaur Nagpal, Decent Living Incomes, with support from Joe Blanchard, Head of Environmental Health and Trading Standards, detailed the council's statutory duties as a Food Authority under the Food Safety Act 1990.
The plan highlighted that Ealing has one of the highest numbers of food establishments in London. The Food Safety Service includes 8 officers assisted by 2.5 team leaders, who are responsible for inspection service of close to 3500 food premises. Each of these premises receive visits, the frequency of the visits being dependent on the risk the premises poses. Following from such inspections, the food safety team reward a hygiene rating from 0-5, with 0 being the lowest compliance and 5 having very good standards observed. The team also take under many re-visits to premises in which non-compliance was found. The food safety team also respond to allegations of food poisoning as well as assist with the import of food safety control by issuing certificates which allow local businesses to import food abroad.
The Food Service Plan outlined the team's objectives, including adhering to the Food Law Code of Practice (FLCOP), addressing food incidents and complaints, improving compliance among food businesses, and collaborating with businesses and other agencies to ensure food safety and accurate labelling. The service aims to deliver approximately 2,000 interventions by 31 March 2025. The delivery of these interventions will rely on external contractors to carry out set monthly targets for interventions. The service is therefore heavily dependent on the availability of suitably competent and qualified food safety officers to complete this work as well as full availability of full time officers.
The plan reviewed the service delivery and performance for 2024-2025, noting that the service successfully carried out almost all due interventions, with only 18 inspections overdue by 31 March 2025. It also highlighted the elimination of the backlog of Food Hygiene Cat E premises and a record number of interventions completed.
