Observational studyBMJ open2026
Understanding the effects of reductions in local government expenditure on food safety services in England, 2009-10 to 2019-20: a longitudinal ecological study.
Observational study in BMJ open, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo understand how reductions in resource allocation affect food safety services in England.
designThis longitudinal ecological study analysed secondary observational data.
settingEngland, data at the local authority level.
participantsEcological 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.
resultsA £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.
conclusionsSpending 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.
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