More than a Score – why being physically present remains paramount in food safety

To mark World Food Safety Day, CIEH Head of Environmental Health Ian Andrews reflects on the continuing importance of the human touch in food safety in a world of rapidly evolving technology.

World Food Safety Day reminds us that safe food is not accidental. It is the result of deliberate, human-led effort. In food businesses, from bustling restaurant kitchens to small artisan producers, the Environmental Health Practitioner (EHP) plays a central role in making that safety a reality. Where digital tools can generate checklists and risk templates in seconds, they cannot walk a cold room, smell something amiss, or notice the anxiety on a food handler's face when asked about allergen controls. That takes a person.

Running a food business is relentless. Owners are managing staff, watching margins, and keeping customers happy, all while carrying legal responsibility for the safety of every meal they serve. Getting all of that right takes knowledge, experience, and the right support.

Every day, EHPs visit a food business as part of their legal duty to keep the public safe. They aren't there to just work through a form. They are reading the room. Noticing whether staff seem confident or evasive, whether the storage areas match what the paperwork says, whether the person responsible for food safety actually understands it or has simply been handed a folder. They bring regulatory knowledge built over years of training, but also professional instinct built during visits to very different businesses in very different circumstances. That combination is not something you can download or generate from a prompt.

The kind of relationship that makes this work doesn’t happen overnight. Louise Chapman, a leader within Chapmans of Rye on the picturesque Sussex coast, has worked with her local EH team for over five years. She is direct about where the value lies: “Whenever we have wanted to make a change to diversify the business, we have brought in the team for advice and it has saved so much time and effort, even over minor issues like where to place a sink,” she says.

For Louise, it is also about the people: “It’s always lovely to see them,” she adds. And the effect on staff is practical as well as relational. As she puts it, “their visits serve as a good reminder that staff need to keep on top of paperwork.”

That last point is worth sitting with. A visit from an EHP shifts the culture inside a business, not just the compliance score.

Giancarlo Quaroni has seen this from every angle, having worked as an auditor, subject matter expert, and regulator across the UK. He is clear about what no technology can replicate. Being face to face, he explains, allows an EHP to “read confidence, challenge inconsistencies, and probe beyond what’s written on paper.”

It is in those moments, when information is incomplete or answers don’t quite add up, that professional judgement earns its place. His view is not that technology is the enemy. As he puts it: “The future isn’t AI versus people, but a hybrid approach where technology supports better decisions, while human judgement remains essential.” That feels right. The question was never which one wins. It was always about being honest about what each one can and cannot do.

Matt Crouchley, Head of Governance and Safety for UK business, puts it in plain terms: "Would you want to eat at a restaurant not inspected or audited by a human? As safety professionals we make decisions based on facts, and the best way of making safety improvements and culture change is from face-to-face interaction. There is nothing better than face to face contact with people, particularly when trying to influence decision making."

What technology cannot do is mentor. It cannot sit with a new food business owner who is overwhelmed and talk them through what actually matters. It cannot recognise that a process which worked fine last year has quietly become a risk. It cannot have a conversation with a chef who has been cutting corners and leave them with a genuine understanding of why that matters. These are the moments that prevent outbreaks. They happen because an EHP was there, in person, paying attention.

For those who set food safety policy and hold oversight responsibility, this is worth taking seriously. Professor James Reason of the University of Manchester wrote about safety culture as the essential foundation for averting serious accidents. Systems fail, but a strong culture catches what systems miss. That culture does not build itself. It is built through relationships, through communication, through consistent and qualified human presence in the places where food is prepared and served.

The consequences of getting this wrong are well documented, even if serious outbreaks in the UK remain thankfully rare. The incident in 2006 when Salmonella was found in a major chocolate brand and a 2023 Shigella outbreak in South Wales are reminders of what can happen when something breaks down. Behind every investigation that follows, there are EHPs on the ground: interviewing cases, swabbing surfaces, tracing supply chains, doing work that is skilled, painstaking, and too often invisible.

On World Food Safety Day, it should not be invisible. Safe food does not happen by itself. It happens because these professionals show up.