Food hygiene officials from Liverpool Council have recommended improvements be made after an inspection at a prison.
Concerns have been raised by the local authority, in conjunction with the Food Standards Agency, after a visit to HMP Altcourse on Brookfield Drive, Fazakerley, last month. A brief report released by the Food Standards Agency said improvement was required around the cleanliness and condition of the facilities and building at the prison.
HMP Altcourse is operated by G4S and was the first privately designed, constructed, financed and managed in the UK. The facility, which can hold more than 1,000 prisoners, opened in 1997.
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The brief report released online said improvement was required in terms of the cleanliness and condition of the facilities and building, which includes having appropriate layout, ventilation, hand washing facilities and pest control, to enable good food hygiene. The prison’s management of food safety, including its system or checks in place to ensure food is safe to eat, was deemed to be generally satisfactory.
Hygiene food handling at HMP Altcourse was rated as good overall. The catering provision at the North Liverpool prison is provided by Aramark, who have worked in partnership with G4S and HMP Altcourse since it opened more than 25 years ago.
The catering facility provides the prisoners at Altcourse with three meals per day in accordance with prison service instructions. This includes a breakfast of cereal and toast options, five cold meal options for lunch and a choice of five meals both hot and cold for dinner.
According to HMP Altcourse’s website: “The menu rotates on a four weekly basis and caters for all dietary, ethnic and health needs including special diets as prescribed by the prison doctor. Food is ordered via a weekly pre-select system and delivered to the units by a hot trolley system.”
The website said safety and hygiene “are of paramount importance when working with food, and at HMP Altcourse we ensure all prisoners receive a range of training opportunities. The Aramark staff provide prisoners with training which is refreshed on a regular basis.”
This includes safe food handling, safe knives drills, reporting of defects and control of substances hazardous to health regulations. A spokesperson for HMP Altcourse said: "Safety and hygiene remains a priority at HMP Altcourse and we immediately rectified the small number of issues identified in the report.
"A reinspection has been requested following these rectifications."
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