Businesses which provide food services need to have good standards of food hygiene. There are many benefits to having good standards of in your business, such as:
Demonstration of legal compliance
The risk of poisoning is minimised
The chance of prosecution/business closure will decrease
Reduced stock return and food wastage
Increased productivity
Opportunity for pest infestation reduced
Enhanced reputation
Good working conditions and satisfied staff
A lower number of complaints from your customers
Reduced cleaning costs
What legislative requirements are there in place to cover food?
The Food Safety Act 1990 states that a food business must not:
Sell (or keep for sale) food that is unfit for people to eat
Cause food to be dangerous to health
Sell food that is not what the customer is entitled to expect in terms of content or quality
Describe or present food in a way that is false or misleading.
These are also a number of other laws that you need to be aware of including, the Food Hygiene (England) Regulations 2006, the Food Hygiene (Wales) Regulations 2006, the Food Hygiene (Scotland) Regulations 2006, and the Food Hygiene (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2006. These regulations require all food businesses to implement procedures for food safety management based on HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point) techniques.
The seven principles of HACCP are:
Analysis of the potential food hazards in the operation of the food business.
Identify points in those operations where food hazards may occur.
Decide which points identified are critical to ensure food safety.
Identify and implement effective control and monitoring procedures at critical control points (CCPs).
Periodic review and analysis of food hazards, CCPs, and control and monitoring procedures, and also when there is an operational change.
Audit the process.
Keep documented records of the procedures.
At the end of 2010, The Food Standards Agency launched a new national ‘food hygiene rating’ scheme to replace the previous ‘scores on doors’ ratings. The new scheme includes a green and black sticker that will be displayed on food/catering premises. The scheme has now come into effect in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The new six-tier system runs from 0 to 5. Zero signifies that urgent attention is required and five shows that the overall premises hygiene is very good. Similar to the scores on doors system, the food hygiene rating system will help reduce the risk of food poisoning and allow consumers to make an informed decision about where they eat out.