{
  "abstract": "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.",
  "authors": [
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "National Institute for Health and Care Research Health Protection Research Unit in Gastrointestinal Infections, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK, Liverpool, UK",
        "Clinical Infection, Microbiology & Immunology, University of Liverpool Institute of Infection Veterinary and Ecological Sciences, Liverpool, UK"
      ],
      "name": "Lauren Murrell"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "National Institute for Health and Care Research Health Protection Research Unit in Gastrointestinal Infections, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK, Liverpool, UK",
        "Department of Livestock and One Health, Institute of Infection, Veterinary and Ecological Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK"
      ],
      "name": "Helen E Clough"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "National Institute for Health and Care Research Health Protection Research Unit in Gastrointestinal Infections, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK, Liverpool, UK",
        "Department of Public Health and Policy, University of Liverpool Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, Liverpool, UK"
      ],
      "name": "Xingna Zhang"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Health Protection Research Unit Gastrointestinal Infection, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK, Public Contributor, PPI Advisor to, Liverpool, UK"
      ],
      "name": "Roger Gibb"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "National Institute for Health and Care Research Health Protection Research Unit in Gastrointestinal Infections, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK, Liverpool, UK",
        "Gastrointestinal Bacteria Refence Unit, UKHSA, London, England, UK",
        "NIHR Health Protection Research Unit in Genomics and Enabling Data, University of Warwick, Warwick, UK, Warwick, UK"
      ],
      "name": "Marie Anne Chattaway"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Geography & Planning, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK"
      ],
      "name": "Mark A Green"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Department of Public Health, Policy and Systems, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, Merseyside, UK"
      ],
      "name": "Iain Edward Buchan"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Public Health and Policy, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK"
      ],
      "name": "Ben Barr"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Clinical Infection, Microbiology and Immunology, University of Liverpool Institute of Infection Veterinary and Ecological Sciences, Liverpool, UK",
        "University of Liverpool, Health protection research unit gastrointestinal ifnections University of Liverpool Liverpool, UK L69 3GF, Liverpool, UK"
      ],
      "name": "Daniel Hungerford"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Understanding the effects of reductions in local government expenditure on food safety services in England, 2009–10 to 2019–20: a longitudinal ecological study",
  "uid": "a3146d1a-25f0-5590-b2d0-18ceb08e92a8"
}