Gut Reaction
Gut Reaction is a magazine providing information for local food businesses in Dorset. Produced twice a year, currently 2800 copies of each edition are printed and distributed free to food businesses and catering premises across Dorset.
The idea for the magazine was initiated by Weymouth and Portland Borough Council Environmental Health Unit about 15 years ago as a way of disseminating information and advice to catering premises within the Weymouth and Portland area. In its early form it was a simple 4 page newsletter. However, it was recognised as a useful, cost-effective method of promoting key messages and as a consequence neighbouring local authorities were approached with a view to increasing the target audience. It was acknowledged that a partnership approach would enable local authorities to co-ordinate the provision of important information to caterers, minimising the potential for businesses to receive conflicting advice.
Six Dorset local authority Environmental Health Units and Dorset Trading Standards Service are now involved in the 12 page A4 magazine that is produced today.
Aims and Objectives
The Environmental Health Unit at Weymouth and Portland has responsibility for inspecting over 800 food premises. This encompasses a wide range of food businesses including restaurants, pubs, cafes, takeaways, seasonal kiosks, holiday camps, hotels, B&Bs, residental care homes, children's nurseries, and food retail premises.
The initial objective of Gut Reaction magazine was to provide catering businesses with up-to-date information on food safety and food legislation. With many of these businesses assessed as low risk premises only requiring routine inspection by environmental health officers every 24 months, the magazine also enabled us to keep in contact and raise our profile with the local catering community.
The scope of the magazine has evolved as other organisations within Dorset have joined the partnership. The primary objective still remains focused on keeping businesses informed of their obligations with respect to food legislation, but Gut Reaction also aims to provide information and advice on other issues of relevance to these businesses.
Topic areas featured include:
- Workplace Health and Safety.
- Trading Standards issues.
- Other legal concerns such as smokefree.
- Environmental issues and sustainability.
- Local initiatives such as Direct from Dorset, highlighting local produce.
- Healthy eating and issues such as food allergy/intolerance.
- Fire safety.
- Licensing issues.
- Reported cases from the Courts.
- Food alert information.
Partners
As well as Weymouth and Portland Borough Council the following local authorities and organisations are involved:
- Christchurch Borough Council
- East Dorset District Council
- North Dorset District Council
- Purbeck District Council
- West Dorset District Council
- Dorset Trading Standards Service.
Methodology
Gut Reaction magazine is a twice yearly publication. The summer edition is prepared for distribution in June/July and the winter edition goes out in November/December.
An initial meeting is held 10-12 weeks prior to the distribution date and is attended by representatives from all partnership authorities. Weymouth and Portland Borough Council Environmental Health Unit take on editorial responsibility for production of each edition. Ideas for articles are discussed by the group, approved and writers assigned. Submitted articles are proofed and edited where necessary.
Once all the articles and accompanying images/photos are in, they are handed over to the Information Services Unit at Weymouth and Portland for the graphic designer to put the magazine together. Printing is contracted out to a local company with quotes obtained from a number of printers each time. Each authority in the partnership is responsible for distributing the magazine to its intended audience in their area. Here at Weymouth and Portland we post out a copy of the magazine to every registered food business within the local authority area.
Promotion
On publication, a copy of each edition is sent to key agencies such as the Food Standards Agency FSA, The Health Protection Agency HPA, and local Primary Care Trusts. A copy is also provided to the Dorset press and radio stations including the Dorset Echo, Radio Solent and Wessex FM.
The magazine is available to view or download in pdf format from the Weymouth and Portland Borough Council website.
Resources
The people involved are the key resource in producing the magazine. Responsibility for writing the articles is shared out amongst the partnership authorities. Editorial responsibility including editing, sourcing images, proof-reading etc. requires approximately ten days effort per edition.
The production costs (graphic design and printing) are shared out proportionately amongst the partner authorities, based on their requested allocation of magazines and input into the edition. On average the cost of production equates to 48p per copy.
Each authority is responsible for distributing the magazine in its area. Some choose to do this by passing the magazine on to businesses when making a routine food inspection to the premises. At Weymouth and Portland we prefer to distribute the magazine by second class post as this ensures all businesses receive the magazine at the same time. This costs about £200 per edition which is taken out of the Environmental Health Unit budget.
Evaluation
A simple freepost return questionnaire was incorportaed into the winter 2006 edition. Unfortunately this did not generate much feedback from catering premises.
Following a review of our methods we sought further feedback in December 2007. We again used a questionnaire, but on this occasion each authority was tasked with obtaining the views of a cross-section of catering premises by approaching them directly. The survey was carried out in the 2-3 weeks following distribution of the winter editon and almost 100 responses were obtained.
All said that they found the articles easy to read and understand. 98% were satisfied with the mix of articles. 71 respondents said the magazine provides useful information on latest legislation; 72 said that it acts as a valuable reminder of good practice. Over half of the business proprietors questioned passed the magazine on to their employees to read as they see it as useful in raising awareness of food and health and safety issues amongst staff. A lot of useful comments were also provided and these were taken into consideration when putting together the 2008 editions of the magazine.
Lessons Learned
The biggest challenge we face is continuing to make Gut Reaction appealing. We are aware of the amount of information and paperwork business proprietors and managers must address on a daily/weekly basis and we therefore need to ensure that they perceive Gut Reaction as a publication worth reading.
The target audience across Dorset is diverse too; ranging from small seasonal caterers to large food manufacturers. The mix of businesses varies from authority to authority with an emphasis on seasonal caterers, B&Bs and guesthouses in the seaside borough of Weymouth and Portland, in contrast to the farm shops and food manufacturers found in North and West Dorset.
The full participation of all authorities within the partnership is the key to ensuring that the make up of articles within each edition is relevant and appealing enough to capture such a broad audience. If an authority wishes to include information that is only relevant to businesses in their area, they can produce and include a separate flyer or leaflet. For example, here at Weymouth and Portland we include a flyer with the summer edition listing all the catering businesses within the borough that have been awarded gold or silver in the Council's food hygiene rating scheme.
One drawback of the magazine is that it is only produced twice a year, making it difficult to react to major events, such as an outbreak of avian influenza, when they occur. The first page within the magazine is called 'Front Desk' and the article line up for this page is kept flexible so that if a big story should break whilst putting the magazine together it is possible to include it up until the final printing deadline.
Future Developments
Another local authority in Dorset has recently shown interest in joining the partnership and has piloted the magazine with a sample of food businesses in their area. If they do decide to join this year it will widen the target audience, provide fresh input to article writing and lead to production cost savings.
The partnership is also keen to develop the remit of the magazine to cover issues of relevance to food businesses. Healthy eating has been highlighted by Government as being vitally important for the general health and well-being of the nation. Both editions of Gut Reaction produced in 2008 sought to highlight the role caterers have in helping people to make healthy eating choices.
The summer edition focused on allergies whilst a separate booklet called 'Recipe for Change' was included in the winter edition. The booklet, produced by Dorset Trading Standards Service, provides advice to food producers on how they can re-formulate their products or recipes in order to achieve the FSA targets for healthy eating. We aim to build on this theme throughout 2009.
The environment and sustainability are also issues which increasingly have an effect on food businesses and the magazine offers a valuable opportunity to provide business owners and managers with relevant information in thse areas, such as their legal responsibilities in terms of the disposal of commercial waste.
Contact Details
Contact Name: Alison Slater
Job Title: Technical and Scientific Projects Officer
Phone: 01305 838450
Email: AlisonSlater@weymouth.gov.uk
Fax: 01305 766684
Website: Weymouth website
Organisation: Weymouth and Portland Borough Council
Address: Weymouth and Portland Borough Council Environmental Health Council Offices North Quay Weymouth Dorset DT4 8TA