What an Environmental Health inspector actually opens first

Most food businesses in Malta have a pest control file. Considerably fewer have one that survives contact with an auditor, and the gap is almost never about the pest control itself. It is about what is written down.

Here is the order an experienced inspector works through it.

1. The site plan

First thing opened, every time. It should be a drawing of your premises with every bait point, monitor and insect light trap numbered and located.

The failure mode is a plan that no longer matches the building. You moved the dry store, the plan still shows bait point 7 where the dry store used to be. That single mismatch calls the whole file into question, because now nothing in it can be assumed current.

2. The last three visit reports

Not the last one, the last three. An inspector is looking for a trend, and specifically for whether findings get closed.

A report that records "droppings observed behind ice machine" is fine. Three consecutive reports recording the same droppings behind the same ice machine, with no corrective action logged between them, is a finding against you rather than against the pest.

3. Corrective actions, and who signed them

Every recommendation needs an owner, a date and a signature. "Proofing required to gap under back door" is an observation. "Proofing required to gap under back door: completed 14/05, J. Borg" is a corrective action.

This is the most common single gap in files we inherit.

4. Product authorisations and safety data sheets

Every product used on site must be authorised for use in Malta, and the current safety data sheet must be in the file. Two things go wrong here:

• The SDS is for a product that was reformulated and the version is out of date
• A product appears on a visit report but has no SDS in the file at all

5. Technician certification

Certificates for the specific technicians who attended, in date. If the file shows a visit in March by someone whose certification lapsed in February, that is a serious finding.

6. Trend analysis

This is where most files stop, and where the better ones start. An auditor for BRCGS, IFS or ISO 22000 expects to see catch counts plotted over time with commentary, not just a stack of visit sheets.

If insect light trap catches in the pastry section tripled in June, the file should say so, say why, and say what was done. That single page is what separates a file that passes from a file that passes well.

The practical test

Hand your file to someone who does not work in your kitchen and give them ninety seconds. Ask them:

1. Where is bait point 12?
2. What was found on the last visit?
3. What was done about it, and who did it?

If they cannot answer all three from the file alone, an inspector will not be able to either.