A day in the life of an environmental health officer

From City Scene, published on 18 May, 2008

Quality control:
Testing the water in Cox’s Creek and inspecting the sterilisation procedures at a tattoo studio are some of the ways health standards are maintained.

Checking mosquito traps, testing water samples for infectious diseases, or answering a query about contaminated soil are all part of a normal day’s work for the council’s environmental health officers.

Auckland City Council’s environmental health team is also kept busy ensuring the city’s cafes, restaurants, health and fitness centres, massage clinics, tattooists, piercing studios and hairdressers meet the conditions of their licenses - no small feat in a city with 3500 food licence holders and 1000 licensed health practitioners.

“Our job is often about investigating customers’ complaints to find out what went wrong, and making sure it doesn’t happen again,” says Carole Simpson, who manages the council’s 16 environmental health officers. “We also take a proactive approach - through regular inspections and educating service providers on best practice - to making sure Auckland businesses perform to consistent high standards.”

Food grading service

Grading Auckland city eateries is one of the services provided by the council’s environmental health team. Food outlets are required to display a licence showing the grading received from the council - ranging from Gold A (best) to E (worst).

This information is available online allowing you to check the grading of the restaurant you intend visiting before you leave home.

The council also provides food safety courses in English, Mandarin and Cantonese. Call 379 2020 for more information.