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How many of you are finding more than simple sausage sizzles when on Foodtrader it all looks legitimate?

This problem creates confusion, registration renewal issues, registration certificate format issues and duration issues if limited registration is paid for. The way around for now will be to note in diary when registration expires and temporarily close the registration/notification until further payment is made. Any thoughts? I might have to black out the identifying details on a certificate to demonstrate.

1. How many would your Council like to purchase to update/replace those in non-town water camps, caravan parks, accommodation premises? 2. Should they be laminated or stickers? 3. Do you know of any good designs that already exist - colors, conventions graphics? Should EHPA have its logo on their or the EHPA website address? 4. How much would you be prepared to pay for these? 5. Useful for EHO's in flood, bushfire or other mass contamination events? Might help the roll out of the new sampling and maintenance guidelines from State Health when they are released. Hit reply and place your expression of interest orders below answering these questions....

Often we get back tables or spread sheets of raw parts per million results and they are hard to check for safety and to relay to proprietors in a way they can understand. I have started asking my analyst for test results of an individual analysis certificates in a standardised spreadsheet order where I can cut and paste the whole column across into my spreadsheet that has the same parameters in consistent alphabetical order. I am trying to put together a spreadsheet that presents each of the similar amount parameters on the one graph along with their associated “Health” and “Aethetic” limits to help with reading of the results. One graph is where the parameters of concern are in the parts per million Health Aesthetic Antimony 0.003 0 Mercury 0.001 0 Cadmium 0.002 0 Eg: Second Graph is where the parameters of concern are generally in the 10’s of parts per million Health Aesthetic Arsenic 0.01 0 Beryllium 0.06 0 Chromium (as Cr(VI)) 0.05 0 Molybdenum 0.05 0 Nickel 0.02 0 Lead 0.01 0 Selenium 0.01 0 Third Graph is where the parameters of concern are in the 100’s or 1,000’s of parts per million or above Health Aesthetic Silver 0.1 0 Boron 4 0 Barium 2 0 Copper 2 1 Iron c 0.3 Manganese 0.5 0.1 Zinc c 3 This is what I am aiming to do:- 1. Each time I get a new sample test result then I insert a new column in next to the most recent sample results or for the same site tested previously and then copy the column used to make the graph across into the vacant column for future reference. 2. Blank out the column used to inform the standard graphs 3. Insert the new column of results from your certificate in excel format. 4. Check if there is anything of concern in the graphs and maybe put them in the email to the customer. I am by no means a wiz with excel but I am sure some really great work could be done on this. Maybe standardised format analysis certificates could include these 3 graphs as standard in addition to the tabular form? I will share my spreadsheet when it is a bit more advanced ! The example graph below shows there are no aesthetic impacts of these three parameters and both the readings of each sample are below the Health limits listed in the drinking water guidelines. Two other similar graphs are enough to be able to present all the metals results for easy checking and education purposes. Kind regards Callum Morrison

Many of us will be having to upgrade our hand held devices or combination of hand held equipment to adapt to the new software and working environments. Originally we were all going to be given the same device but that seems to have changed with them supposedly being far more compatible now across multiple platforms. Some of you may already have experience with some of these devices and would like to share the good attributes or problems (that we hope would be eliminated in newer versions.) The choices seem to be:- 1. Apple iPad Air with minimum 256 GB on board Storage 2. Windows 10 Surface Pro 3. Android eg: Samsung Galaxy Tablet Reliability, Weight, Protective Casing, Photo Quality, Readability, Ease of Typing, Virus Resistance and Online Meetings performance all come into play. Do you rely on voice to text to save on typing or a wifi keyboard only when required? Do you leave your keyboard in the car and just open the file on your phone to input photographs and an essential data then come back to your vehicle to type it up or "voice to text" any slabs of text with a microphone? What are your thoughts, choices and experiences on these matters and maybe they could be complied from this thread to see what the trends are?

Environmental Health Officers are increasingly coming across old microwave ovens as they age with splashed internal ceilings, blistering and rusting paint and the possibility safety mesh seals might be breaking down. Sometimes the wheel track under the revolving plate has just about rusted away. When microwave ovens first came out then EHO's used to carry a little tool that evidently lit up when leakage was detected. Always put a microwave safe container of water in to load the microwave when testing or you can damage the microwave oven. Take care with old cups because the superheated steam in a crack can cause a delayed explosion sometimes as you take them out of the microwave. Now there are a massive range of hand held digital microwave testing tools available. Just like test and tag for electrical appliances, some service commercial service providers extend this to testing there is no radiation leakage from microwave ovens above acceptable limits. I have asked Energysafe who does the ongoing testing of commercial kitchen microwave ovens if we ever suspect there may be problems. I will let you know their response. Generally newer microwaves with give more reliable defrosting and cooking that are important for food safety as well as user safety.

I anyone still using iAuditor? If so please contact me.

Australian Food Safety Week Australian Food Safety Week 2020 will be held from 14 to 21 November 2020. The theme will be ‘Food Safety – it’s in your hands’ where we will be building upon the good behaviour established during the COVID-19 pandemic so we can continue to reduce the amount of foodborne disease. Find out more… https://foodsafety.asn.au/ DHHS Victoria is the only state or territory who is not one of our members having withdrawn last year.

Complaints can be up against large manufacturers trying to negotiate reasonable compensation for their efforts and save these corporations enormous amounts of money in recalls, market loss or other compensation cases. Complainants are a part of continuous improvement. The Department of Justice has not been returning calls during the pandemic however does anyone have anyone know of any standards or guidelines for reasonable compensation for reporting justified food complaints?

How many EHO's are wearing Body Worn Cameras? Has your Council actively promoted the new Body Worn Cameras use to proprietors? Have you ever seconded a compliance officer with a Body Worn Camera to assist in collection of evidence as a true and accurate record? How do you think the use of Body Worn Cameras will impact on the relationship EHO's have with proprietors?