The risk-assessment inspections at 127 kiosks carried out by environmental health officers last year resulted in only one of them being deemed “not satisfactory”.

A total of 4,700 risk-assessment inspections were held last year, a Health Ministry spokeswoman said. She did not elaborate on what not being “satisfactory” meant in practice.

 Times of Malta sought further information as the number of kiosks on roadsides continues to increase and with more vendors setting up shop at busy junctions all over the island.

Regulations for certain sectors have been finalised

When the risk-assessment inspections were carried out, the spokeswoman noted, operators had been issued an improvement notice indicating the areas that the inspecting officers considered as in need of attention.

“Any deficiencies noticed are brought to the attention of the food business operator, who is given a period of time to rectify the situation. When a situation is found to be serious and contravening the law, an undertaking is drawn in line of court action,” the ministry spokeswoman said.

Times of Malta reported late last year that street-food vendors would “soon” be facing more stringent rules, since the Environmental Health Directorate was drafting “sector-specific” laws that better addressed health and safety issues.

The spokeswoman said those laws were still “in the pipeline”, adding that some regulations for certain sectors had, however, been finalised.

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“In terms of the relevant regulations, any person who engages in any food business is to ensure that he or she, the business, as well as the premises from which the food business is being conducted, are registered with the health authority.

“This registration is, however, without prejudice to the fact that the primary responsibility for ensuring food safety within a food business rests with the food-business operator,” the spokeswoman insisted.