FOOD safety across North Yorkshire is high on the menu thanks to a unique partnership between all the county's district councils.

Environmental health officers throughout the county have just been granted a nationally recognised award from the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) for their efforts in raising the quality of food safety practices.

Inspecting premises such as restaurants, pubs, and food factories, detaining and seizing suspect food and investigating possible food poisoning outbreaks are all part of the job. Standards and targets are set which can be easily measured, and the uniform approach is designed to ensure that residents and businesses can be confident the same methods and principles will be applied throughout the whole of North Yorkshire.

Paul Crossley, principal environmental health officer for Ryedale District Council, said that getting all eight authorities to agree one quality system had been very challenging, but worth it to receive the ISO certificate.

"To maintain the certification will require watchful dedication from all members of the food safety teams," he said.

"That's not just from the Environmental Health Officers, but also the administrative staff who play a vital role in the ongoing maintenance of the system.

"One of the most important parts of this system is continual improvement, which means that whatever the quality now, the Ryedale food safety team must not stand still, but demonstrate to an outside observer an ever- improving service."

The North Yorkshire Food Liaison Group is so far the only such regional partnership to have achieved the high standards required for the ISO accreditation.

Updated: 08:27 Wednesday, March 12, 2003