Understanding the effects of reductions in local government expenditure on food safety services in England, 2009–10 to 2019–20: a longitudinal ecological study

OBJECTIVE: To understand how reductions in resource allocation affect food safety services in England. DESIGN: This longitudinal ecological study analysed secondary observational data. SETTING: England, data at the local authority level. PARTICIPANTS: Ecological study, without human participants. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: The primary outcome measures were the number of staff, represented by the number of full-time equivalents per capita, number of interventions per establishment, and proportion of hygiene-compliant establishments. RESULTS: A £1 decrease in food safety expenditure per capita was associated with a 2% (-3.3 to -0.7) decrease in staffing levels and a 1.6% (-3.2 to -0.1) decrease in the number of interventions achieved per establishment. A one-unit reduction in staff was associated with a 42.2% (-80.5 to -11.9) decrease in the number of interventions achieved. No evidence of an association was found between expenditure or staff levels and the proportion of compliant establishments. CONCLUSIONS: Spending reductions negatively affected the capacity of food safety teams to provide key services. Reductions in food safety expenditure significantly affected food hygiene staff levels and service provision. This finding raises concerns about the capacity of food safety teams to operate and the potential for increased public risk of gastrointestinal infections.