EHJ October 2004, pages 312-314
The Somali community in the UK remains relatively ignored by mainstream society. Nick Warburton discovers how Ealing LBC is helping Somali food businesses integrate into the wider community by ensuring compliance with hygiene standards

The pungent smell of exotic spices wafts enticingly in the air as we enter the cafŽ. The owner greets us and waves to some tables where we wait patiently for him to finish serving. There's been a sudden and unexpected rush of hungry and impatient customers and Nizar Dhanji, student EHO, is sitting rifling through his paperwork. As he prepares the necessary documents and equipment, project leader Saynap Isman begins to explain the purpose of this particular visit, the first of three on today's agenda.

This morning, she and Nizar are here to run through temperature control and why it's so important to chilling and cooking food. The project team has brought a weekly temperature log and thermometers and Nizar is patiently explaining to the owner why he should be measuring the temperature in the hot and cold storage units twice a day and keeping a record.

As we step into the kitchen, the source of the smell becomes apparent. A huge vat of coloured rice is slowly being cooked on the stove. Next to it, large pieces of lamb are sizzling away. The owner places the temperature gauge at the edge of the rice vat and laughs excitedly like a child with a new toy. The temperature reads an impressive 84ûC - well above the minimum cooking temperature. Nizar nods approvingly and asks the owner to take another reading from the middle of the vat. The temperature reading is even higher.

Nizar shows him how to fill in the temperature log correctly. Next, he moves to the industrial-sized refrigerator to run through the procedure for chilled foods. Saynap gestures to the front of the cafŽ. Outside, she explains why this six-month pilot project is proving so successful and how her presence as a Somali has helped to forge trust between Ealing LBC and the Somali food community.

"You've got to understand that their perception of the council has always been of the enforcement side," she says. "But we've found that, because of [that perception], they haven't actually improved. What I have been able to do is break down the barrier that has been there. My going there and accompanying an officer has put me in a better position to develop trust. It's very important to have that because if you don't, you can't really cooperate."

The Somali food hygiene campaign has been running since June and communicates the importance of the Food Standards Agency's four Cs - cooking, cleaning, chilling and contamination. As the first project of its kind in the country to target the Somali community, one aim is that other councils will adopt it as an example of best practice.

Back at the council offices in Ealing, Tom Dent, director of housing and environmental health, explains the background to the campaign. Carrying out a regulatory role is not just about enforcement, he stresses. It's also about education and supporting businesses. In one of London's most culturally diverse boroughs, Ealing LBC already provides a wealth of food safety courses and support materials in other languages, particularly for its Asian communities. Somalis are fairly new arrivals in Ealing and ensuring the same level of support is available is one of the main drivers for the campaign.

"As they are part of a new community within the borough, we need to make sure that we understand their cultural needs while, at the same time, being clear that the standards we expect are not something that can be negotiated," he explains. "It's very much about helping them come up to the appropriate standards."

To ensure that business owners not only meet minimum statutory requirements, but can also follow best practice in their businesses, the project team recognised that any support it provides must be practical and pragmatic. Basic as it sounds, simply handing out thermometers and explaining the importance of temperature control has gone a long way in raising awareness of food hygiene issues.

"When we're talking about temperature control issues, it would be pointless to say, 'oh, and by the way, get yourself a thermo-meter'," says Tom. "If these are people who don't really know how to access council services and are not sure about the supply regimes for technical equipment, it is very important that we are able to come out with something very practical."

Ealing LBC has been fortunate in tapping into the FSA's project stream and has been awarded £10,000 to help accelerate and progress the campaign. Initially, the team made a list of Somali businesses in the area to visit. After making appointments, Saynap and Nizar turned up armed with questionnaires, ready to explain what the project was all about, why they were there and "showing a face to a name". Since June, they have dropped into over 21 cafŽs and restaurants and four butchers' and food stores. Short and regular follow-up visits are made to see how businesses are getting on and to resolve any problems they may have.

Saynap says that communicating the hygiene messages over a series of visits rather than bombarding the owners from day one has been an essential part of the project's delivery. "We don't want to overwhelm them in one go by saying, 'look, we'll spend three hours just talking on the four Cs' because that is not going to be practical," she says. "We want this to be long term. We want it to be part of their practice."

Tom agrees. "Rather than talk about critical control points, we'll talk about the practical realities of the risks and how to avoid them. In essence, what you are talking about is hazard but you're doing it in a different way. And then you can say, 'by the way, what you are doing now complies with this and did you know that this is what this is called?'. Isn't that a far more imaginative way of dealing with it than going in and saying, 'here's the rule book'?"

For some businesses, improving hygiene has proved quite a challenge, particularly as many of the premises tend to be at the lower end of the market. "On many occasions the improvements we are asking for do need some investment," says Tom. "Invariably, because they are a new community within our business world, they are in premises which have cheaper rents and may be slightly rundown."

Religious beliefs have also been an influential factor in terms of tapping into resources. As a Muslim community, businesses cannot take out interest loans and so, consequently, the options for accessing funds have been limited. But Ealing LBC is well aware of the difficulties that this poses for Somali businesses and this month, representatives from the Islamic Bank and the HSBC were invited to attend a business-to-business seminar to discuss how funds could be made available.

The seminar also provided an opportunity for businesses which have already been visited to explain to others how the campaign works and to promote council services. "It's not just, 'what can people do to help you?'," says Tom. "It's share your experiences so that the perceptions about enforcement officers, about local authorities, about supporting agencies like Business Link, can be accessed by those communities with a degree of confidence."

Ealing LBC has gone to great lengths to dispel any misperceptions that the council is simply there to carry out vigorous, heavy-handed enforcement. "On many occasions, the media pick up that we are the big bad wolf that comes along and closes down businesses, that we are the jackboot officials that stamp on the traditional values of x, y and z," says Tom. "What we need to do is work hard to make sure businesses see that, without compromising the standards that are expected, we can provide a whole host of support tools that enable them to flourish as a business."

When Ealing organised the seminar, it made a conscious decision to contact the neighbouring authorities and encouraged them to send Somali food handlers along. The move was designed to build and strengthen connections within the Somali community in west London. "After all," says Tom, "communities don't necessarily see the barriers and borders of local authorities, so we need to make sure we are creative and imaginative about how we engage with communities and that does mean sometimes working in a different way."

The council has arranged two one-day foundation certificate courses for Somali food handlers where a translator will provide oral translation on behalf of an experienced food hygiene trainer. It is also in discussion with the CIEH to see if accredited food hygiene courses in Somali can be established. As Tom explains, it's all about valuing, appreciating and recognising that people have progressed. "We thought it important that we recognise those who have put in the effort to improve their businesses and improve their competencies in relation to food safety matters and demonstrate it in a more public way."

While the courses offer a great opportunity for Somali business owners, most of which are men, to improve their food hygiene awareness, the council recognises that Somali women, who often do the cooking, should not be excluded from hygiene campaigns. For this reason, Ealing has organised a food hygiene awareness session specifically for Somali women with the aim of encouraging them to enrol on a foundation certificate course.

It also plans to extend the campaign to the wider community. "We are hoping to produce some food hygiene leaflets in Somali that will cover the four Cs," says Saynap. "This could be accessible to anyone who wants to know about food hygiene practices. We have to understand that this is not just about businesses - it could be for community centres, the public, for children in schools."

In July this year, Hermione Harris, author of the report, The Somali community in the UK: what we know and how we know it, highlighted the challenges facing Somalis living in the UK. Despite constituting one of the largest minority ethnic groups in the UK, she said, their presence remains relatively ignored by mainstream society. Hopefully, projects such as the Ealing food hygiene campaign can offer a platform for Somalis to share their rich cuisine and raise awareness of their presence in local communities.