Changing Times in Boston

The Impact of Economic Migration

BostonTraditional and historic market town

Economy based on agriculture and

the food industry – Seasonal work &

low wages

Millennium

• increase in economic migrants;

• Portuguese (>5,000)

• Gangmasters – exploitation

• Social unrest

2005 onwards• Portuguese numbers decrease

• Influx of Eastern Europeans, initially Polish – followed by Lithuanian, Latvian and Russian

• Population continues to increase – estimates that up to 20,000 Eastern Europeans in the area!

Impacts on the Borough• Language & cultural differences• Increase in HMOs• Illegal encampments• Social tensions• Strain on public services

Public Health• Return of bed bugs, cockroaches, cases

of T.B.

Food SafetyInspections of 19 Eastern European Retail

Stores and Warehouses – Findings;• 7 Shops handling and slicing cooked meats• 3 of the above shops without proper wash hand

basins• 7 shops found to have high risk foods with expired

‘use by’ dates• 7 shops were not complying with temperature

requirements

Food Safety • 9 shops had products of dubious origin • 6 shops had unmarked eggs• 5 had cleaning issues• All had a lack of knowledge/training of food safety• No food safety management systems• Concern regarding transport of high risk products

Trading Standards/HMRC Raids• 88 litres of counterfeit spirits (isopropyl)

Formal Action

• Seizure/surrender of > £6,000

of meat products

• Closure of 1shop

• Prosecution of the owner of 2 shops

Informal Action• Hygiene Rules produced

Food Alert 2010Listeria Monocytogenes Found

in Polish Black Pudding Sausage

2011 Improvements not sustained!

What Next?

‘System Thinking’

Eastern European Community Support Worker engagement

Social marketing

Review Hygiene Rules

Firm but fair approach

The Future?

• Greater Integration

• Business development and diversification

• Better understanding and compliance with public health legislation

• Action by central government to assist areas like Boston affected by economic migration