EHJ April 2004, pages 112-113
Northern Europeans place greater emphasis on the written word in business. The further east towards Asia one travels, the more verbal communication takes over from the pen. Euan MacAuslan suggests that we need to reach a broader range of cultures if food hygiene standards are to improve

Culture in its simplest form could be defined as "the way we do things around here" or "the methods society evolves to resolve problems". Where food safety compliance becomes a cultural issue is when enforcement agencies unintentionally assume that all owners of small hospitality businesses (SHBs), regardless of their background, understand the letters, schedules, notices, and leaflets that make up the UK's enforcement procedures.

Individual local authority officers and trainers often do make concerted efforts to address cultural communication issues. But little guidance or support is offered by government agencies like the Food Standards Agency or the Learning and Skills Council. There is a divide between these agencies and SHBs, where there needs to be a bridge. Is it right that, in the 21st century, the UK's cosmopolitan society should be subjected to a culture of "this is the way we do things round here - because that is the way we have always done them"?

For example, in the UK it is most common in business to put everything in writing. But the further east you travel, the more likely business owners will be to act on the spoken word. People from oral, rather than written, cultures will be much less likely to take note of written information sent to them. Arabs tend to do business against a personal background and are very conscious of their historical civilisation. The Turkish business culture involves haggling and listening to what is being said. Cultural values will tend to influence the way eastern businesses are run, more so than in the northern hemisphere. The British, on the other hand demonstrate hospitality, fairness and friendship. But they will also be reluctant to change the way they conduct business with people from different cultures. It is this cultural gap that may lead to poor hygiene and food safety standards not being improved in SHBs where the owner may not understand the enforcement of UK legislation.

Depending on the cultural background of employers and employees in SHBs, there may be a range of underlying reasons why food safety training and instructions from external sources are not readily acted on. It is too easy to assume that employers don't want to listen. Below the surface, they may be having problems with their employees. Difficulties can be caused by poor oral communication skills, poor message taking and receiving, inappropriate responses to written instructions, low reading ages, and limited English as a first or second other language.

The London Skills Commission has identified that 23 per cent of London's population has low literacy or numeracy levels and that 42 per cent speak English as a second other language. The London framework for regional employment and skills action has also found that written communication is often a barrier to social inclusion for minority ethnic businesses and their workforce.

Therefore, it seems logical for enforcement agencies, local authorities and trainers to start producing information to bridge the cultural gap between written and oral communication. This could involve the use of CD-Roms, audiocassettes and pictures that could be listened to or read at a time to suit workers. Adding photographs to letters would help to reinforce points in letters following a food inspection. For instance, there is nothing more graphic than showing mouse droppings or dried foodstuffs behind a fridge.

Research by the Central Office of Communication has found that, where communities have low language and literacy skills, face-to-face verbal communication is most effective. It also found that targeting smaller minority ethnic groups is best done at a local level. Yet the FSA seems reluctant to help hard-pressed local authorities with funding or advice. Where is the national lead on addressing cultural issues that may impact on food safety in SHBs?

Getting the message over to the restaurant sector is where the most help is needed. According to the Hospitality Training Foundation, two out of every 10 people working in restaurants are self-employed. Approximately 96,000 managers work in hotels, accommodation, restaurants or catering, and 21 per cent of the UK's hospitality workforce hold no qualifications.

The UK's restaurant industry maintains the largest mix of ethnic groups with less diversity in contract catering and pubs. London, in common with many other urban areas, now provides a cosmopolitan culinary feast. Restaurants producing food from Afghan to Zimbabwe can be found in the capital - home to 16 per cent of the country's restaurants. Many managers and employees are from overseas, for a range of individual circumstances. Imagine working in a new city, trying to learn English, and being expected to understand what is required of you under British legislation. Daunting to say the least - especially if you come from a culture of the spoken word. In terms of food safety, is it more important, as the home secretary David Blunkett would have us believe, for migrants to learn English first, or for a food handler to be taught in their own language so that they can discuss food safety with their employer or colleagues at the business where they work.

The FSA does publish translated information for caterers in Welsh, Bengali, Gujerati, Hindi, Punjabi, Urdu, Greek, Turkish and Chinese, but it claims that other languages are in poor demand. This may be because neither the agency nor the Central Office for Information have carried out any research to establish which languages food handlers in the hospitality industry most commonly speak.

Readability is another problem. When five of the FSA's free publications for SHBs, produced in English, were put to the Plain English Campaign's gobbledygook readability test, the average score was 29. The industry guide to good hygiene practice: catering guide scored 30. To put this in context, in 1980 the National Consumer Council gave the Sun a score of 26, the Daily Mail a score of 31, and the Times a score of 36. Too much may be being expected of food handlers who lack basic literacy or, indeed, speak English as a second language.

The FSA, for one, needs to review the readability of its materials. It currently produces no audio or CD-based recorded food safety information other than films. In the mid1990s, the Hospitality Training Foundation produced, through a quality business initiative, a cassette tape called Fly on the wall. It was an introduction to Haccp for small food businesses. The idea was that owners could listen to the cassette in their cars on the way to and from "cash and carry"s or home.

The FSA accepts that written information, unless very simple and direct, is not always the best way to communicate some of the basic messages we need to get through to caterers. The employee profile of the UK's hospitality workforce is culturally diverse. In 1999, Italian, French, Spanish and Portuguese were cited as the most common languages spoken among food handlers in restaurants in central London.

At a national level, we are not reaching a wide enough range of cultures and languages. Compare this to the publicly available advice given by the Food Standards Authority of Ireland on its website (www.fsai.gov.ie). It may not be comprehensive but at least it is a step in the right direction. Breaking the cultural barriers is surely the right way to go when attempting to improve food safety.

It is not just enforcement agencies who give little consideration to how to effectively present information and instruction to minority ethnic businesses. The London Central Learning and Skills Council (LSC) has produced a leaflet in English about free basic skills training for employees in small and medium enterprises. If the leaflet was translated into other languages, it would help owners of these businesses to use the free service. The LSC's workforce development service has been trying to tackle job skills and qualifications among London's hospitality industry. Discussions with the LSC revealed that it has not considered cultural issues and communication barriers where English is not the first language, as found in many of the small restaurant businesses in central London.

The FSA, LSC and other government agencies need to review how they produce information for owners of businesses and the advice they give to food hygiene trainers and enforcement agencies. To do this, they must understand the diversity of business cultures and barriers to learning that prevail in many of the UK's small food businesses. Ethnicity, religious beliefs, and social backgrounds, in addition to a limited ability to cope with technical words in written or spoken form, must all be taken into account if the barrier to cultural communication is to be removed. To communicate effectively, food safety information must be produced in a format that meets the needs of a truly diverse and vibrant cosmopolitan society, rather than sticking to what "has always been used in the past".

Euan MacAuslan FRSH, FRIPH, FITOL, Chartered MCIPD, is the environmental health training coordinator for Kensington and Chelsea LBC. E-mail: euan.macauslan@rbkc.gov.uk

The views expressed in this article are those of Euan MacAuslan and do not necessarily reflect the policies of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea