Ref. 27750-15The team of Swindon Council's environmental health officers are responsible for ensuring that when we go out for a meal or buy something from a supermarket we don't end up with food poisoning by keeping a constant check on premises selling food through the borough. EMMA-KATE LIDBURY reports

DOZENS of jars of contaminated chilli pickle were taken off the shelves of a Swindon store recently because of their potential risk to consumers.

Naga Chilli Pickle Extra Hot, which is sold under the brand name Pran, was found to be contaminated with Sudan I, a chemical dye which can cause cancer.

People eating it regularly over a long period of time were warned they would be most at risk from the product, which is manufactured in Bangladesh.

Fortunately, it is not thought that anyone in the town bought the product before it was surrendered by the shop in Swindon.

But every week the environmental health officers at Swindon Council receive similar warnings from the Food Standards Agency.

Behind the scenes the officers based in Station Road are busy checking the borough's supermarket shelves, kitchens and restaurants for potentially lethal products.

Janice Bardwell, an environmental health officer at Swindon Council, has been in the job since 1979.

"We can take a product off the shelves if we've received a warning about it from the Food Standards Agency," she said.

"The warnings come in thick and fast. We can't account for the number of people who might eat it and the effects it might have."

So far this year the Food Standards Agency has issued 48 warnings about contaminated products, which averages at about one a week.

In her time as an environmental health officer, Janice has seen some nasty products.

Last month, officers were on the lookout for counterfeit bottles of Kirov vodka which were contaminated with high levels of methanol.

Prawns containing antibiotics and jellies made of thickening agents which congeal in the throat have also been on the hit list.

Warnings are rated on a scale from A to D, according to the potential harm the product may cause.

The council is then obliged to act on them depending on their seriousness.

An A rated warning means all officers must take immediate action, while a D rating is for information only.

Earlier in the year, B rated chilli powders were found in Swindon and had to be surrendered by shopkeepers in the town.

If necessary, the officers have the power to seize products of animal origin.

There can be no appeal and the product has to be destroyed.

"We will sometimes follow the dustcart to the tip to watch the contaminated product being destroyed," said Janice, who works in a team of six at the council's environmental health department.

In total the team carries out more than 800 inspections each year. So far this year only one has resulted in a prosecution.

The Asda Wal-Mart superstore in North Swindon was fined £70,000 in the summer for stocking goods that, in some instances, were 12 days past their sell by date.

The case involved months of work for Swindon officers who randomly tested hundreds of items from the store.

This kind of work is undertaken all the time in almost every food outlet. It depends on the type of business and its previous food safety record as to how often these inspections take place but generally businesses are not

given any advance notice.

"A lot of the time people do not realise that our work is going on but in actual fact we are constantly checking foods across the town," said Janice.

"We go to supermarkets, pubs and restaurants to carry out tests. It really keeps businesses on their toes.

"Because we are always taking preventative measures, it means if we are doing our job well then there should be no food hygiene problems."