Better late than never! After 16 years' trading, NELC cabinet member at last registers his food business

                                       

Cllr Shepherd - unaware of food business registration requirements?

SOME 16 years after he set up a business selling home-grown veg, soft fruit and poultry products to the public, a senior North East Lincolnshire councillor and cabinet member has at last registered his business.

Either Cllr Ron Shepherd, a former mayor of the borough, chose not to comply with the legal requirement to register The Shepherd's Purse on Bradley Road, Grimsby, as a food business or, more likely, he was unaware of his responsibility so to do.

When the oversight was pointed out to him, the portfolio holder for community safety was prompt to register - on July 11 - and The Shepherd's Purse quickly underwent a formal inspection to establish whether it met hygiene standards.

Queried why it took so long for the portfolio holder to register, a council insider said: "It is not an untypical situation to find that a food business operator is not registered, primarily as he or she has not not been aware of the requirement to register. 

"As and when officers become aware of an unregistered food business, an informal approach is taken.

"The operator is signposted to the appropriate site on our website or invited to complete a form on site at the time.

"As far as I am aware, we have never had a food business operator that refuses to register once made  aware of the requirement to do so.

"For that reason, we have never taken formal action against a food business operator for this offence."

What was the outcome of the hygiene inspection?

According to NELC, The Shepherd's Purse emerged with flying colours, achieving a five-out-of-five "very good" rating.

* There are currently 1,638 registered food businesses in North East Lincolnshire. 

                                             

The Shepherd's Purse came up trumps in its hygiene inspection, and its five-star rating is likely to be detailed soon on the website of the Food Standards Agency 

The Grimsby News says: Even if he sometimes comes over as a bossy school prefect, there is an engaging boyishness, simplicity and joviality about the enthusiasm with which Cllr Ron Shepherd carries out his duties as an NELC cabinet member and ward councillor.  If, come the festive season,  any department store should require a Father Christmas for its Santa’s grotto, he’s definitely the fella! But less to his credit of the former mayor is that he appears to have operated a food-retailing business for almost two decades without complying with the basic requirement for it to be registered with the authority of which he is a member. The apparent oversight seems all the more remarkable given that he is portfolio holder with responsibility for community safety. What signal does that send out to the electorate? One rule for ordinary people, no rules for cabinet members (until they are found out). Well done to The Shepherd's Purse for achieving a top rating for hygiene, but the very least Cllr  Shepherd should now do is to offer an explanation and, at his discretion, perhaps issue an apology.