At all stages of production, processing and distribution, you must protect food against any contamination likely to make it unfit for human consumption, harmful to health or contaminated in a way that means it would be unreasonable to expect it to be eaten in that state. You must have adequate procedures to control pests and to prevent domestic animals( pets) from getting into places where food is prepared, handled or stored. If your local authority permits domestic animals, in special cases, you must have adequate procedures to prevent this from causing contamination. Hazardous and / or inedible substances must be adequately labelled and stored in separate and secure containers. You also need to make sure that the food you make or sell complies with specific‘ microbiological criteria’. These criteria put limits on the levels of certain bacteria that are allowed to be in foods. In practice, most small catering businesses and small food shops may not need to do any testing of the levels of bacteria in the food they make or sell. But you must be able to show that you have suitable food safety management procedures in place that control the levels of bacteria in food.
Temperature
You must not keep foods at temperatures that might cause a risk to health. The‘ cold chain’ must not be interrupted for foods that rely on temperature control for their safety. However, you are allowed to have foods outside temperature control for limited periods of time to allow you to prepare, transport, store, display and serve food, as long as this does not cause a risk to health.
Enforcement of the law Local authorities are responsible for enforcing food hygiene laws. To do this, enforcement officers may visit your business premises to inspect them. These officers might come on a routine inspection, or they might visit because of a complaint. They have the right to enter and inspect your premises at any reasonable time and will usually come without telling you first.
What help can I get?
If you would like advice about obeying food hygiene law, get in touch with your local authority. If you run a small catering business, there are packs available to help you put in place food safety management procedures based on the principles of HACCP. These packs have been produced by the FSA in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, and by local authorities in Wales.
England‘ Safer food, better business’, an innovative and practical approach to food safety management, has been developed by the FSA in partnership with small catering businesses and more than 50 local authorities. If you would like to order a copy of‘ Safer food, better business’ contact FSA publications using the contact details on the back of this booklet. You