FAQ AND INFO ON FOOD SAFETY, HEALTH & SAFETY

Question: How can you help me with Food Safety?

Answer:

We can help with any overwhelm and confusion, and ensure you feel confident about your food business. See more on our Food Safety page.

Question: What are the consequences of our business not meeting Health and Safety or Food Hygiene law?

Answer: The consequence depends on the seriousness of the offence and whether enforcers have told you about it before. The minimum they can do is write a letter requiring you to sort the problem. They may serve an improvement notice. They can take you to court. The sentencing guidelines introduced in 2016 have increased levels of fines for all businesses and are based on turnover NOT profit..

REMEMBER

Under Health & Safety Law you are guilty until you prove otherwise!

And individuals can be fined or sent to prison.

Question: I’m a new business start up, can you help me?

Answer:

Of course! If you are about to start or have just started a business we can offer advice about what you need to do to meet Food Safety requirements.

A virtual visit around potential new premises with you can save you money as it will alert you to things you need to take into consideration (not only for food safety but for Health and Safety).

It is important to get documentation, training and structure right to start with to ensure you meet legal requirements and achieve the best ‘Food Hygiene’ rating.

We offer a special ‘Start Up’ fee for small businesses requiring help and support at the beginning. The cost is £150 for a 2 hour online consultation. We will also provide you with an action plan. See more here

The first thing you need to do is register your business with your Local Authority. This should be completed 28 days before starting. You can do this directly via the Local Authority Website or here.

Question: My business has been given a low food hygiene rating, what can I do?

Answer:

Get in touch so we can help you improve your rating. Find out more on our Food Hygiene Ratings page.

Question: What do I need to know about Allergens?

Answer:

Check out our Allergen page and our New Allergen Legislation page for information.

Question: What is Sous Vide and can I start using it as a cooking process.

Answer: Sous vide is cooking at low temperature in a sealed pack. See our Sous Vide page or call us and we can offer you training and provide documentation to ensure you can prove the food cooked is safe to eat.

Question: I’ve been told by an EHO that the only way I can prove food cooked via Sous Vide is by microbiological testing, is this right?

Answer: No this isn’t exactly correct. Some manufacturers may use microbiological testing when cooking as part of their HACCP process. However, most small caterers will not need to do this. If you understand the process and have the right checks and documentation in place you can demonstrate that food cooked via this process is safe to eat.

We offer an information and training session to explain what Sous Vide is and how you can achieve safe food in your kitchen. We also provide the documentation for you to complete to demonstrate safe food production.

Question: What is acrylamide and what do I need to know about it?

Answer:

Acrylamide is a chemical contaminant of food.

It’s produced from the browning reaction seen when starchy foods are roasted, fried, toasted, grilled and baked.

The foods you need to put control measures in place for are french fries, crisps, bread, cereals, pastries, biscuits, wafers and coffee (there are more extensive controls for manufacturers).

Find out more on our Acrylamide page, see our training and due diligence and training pack available.

Question: Is it right that I don’t have to report any accidents unless someone is off work for 7 days or more (when it used to be 3)?

Answer: There are several types of reportable incident. Actually this applies to employees who are out of action for 7 consecutive days or more (this does not include the day of the injury but does include weekends or rest days). Incapacitation or bring out of action means they can’t do their usual job NOT that they are off work completely. You have 15 days in which to do this and you report online via the Incident Contact Centre. You must still record over 3 day incapacitation but don’t have to report it. You must also report ‘specified injuries‘ irrespective of the time taken off work. Examples include; fractures (but not to fingers or toes), amputations, serious burns and loss of consciousness.

Question: Is the employer responsible if an employee is injured at work due to another employee fooling around?

Answer: It depends entirely on whether the employee was acting in the ‘course of their employment’ or the injury was just caused by ‘an act of pure folly’ i.e. they were acting in a purely private capacity and outside the scope of work. Two cases taken by injured employees against their employers have been thrown out (one on appeal).

Question: What do I do if my employees don’t speak great English and I’m not sure if they understand it properly if it’s written.

Answer: If their job is safety critical you must provide information, training etc in a language they understand. This may mean getting an interpreter in or using a member of staff who is bi-lingual. Simple training and signs are better provided in picture format as these are universal. You must always test that training has been understood and this could by be means of a written or verbal test or by watching them perform an action safely or by getting them to explain how to do something.

Question: Chefs in my kitchen are complaining of back ache and wrist pain. Is there anything I can do to reduce this?

Answer: Manual handling injuries and RSI (repetitive strain injuries) as well as carpel tunnel syndrome and tendonitis are injuries commonly seen in catering. The HSE has produced a fact sheet on lots of ways to prevent manual handling injuries to catering staff which can be downloaded here. http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/cais24.pdf

If you would like help and practical advice please contact us.

Question: How can I really tell if my surfaces in my kitchen are clean?

Answer:

Food safety inspectors will now often swab surfaces in the kitchen and hand contact points such as fridge door handles and light switches to check that they are clean.

They use swabs that change colour to give an indication of the cleanliness of the surface or an ATP meter to give a simple and rapid indication of levels of contamination and therefore hygiene and risk. Numerical results give an idea of the amount of organic matter on a surface (on which bacteria can grow).

You can purchase ATP colour changing swabs yourself if you want to do your own tests. Examples are Hygiena ultrasnap, 3M ATP test clean-trace, Hygiena pro-clean.

Note: we are not promoting any particular brand.

Question: How often do I have to calibrate food temperature probes and how do I do it properly?

Answer: This does depend on frequency of use. Many businesses will do this monthly (which I would suggest is a minimum) and many weekly. There is no legal requirement but it must be checked.

To do it in house you can check your probe at hot and cold temperatures if you use it for both. Put it in actively boiling water (not water boiled in a kettle or from an urn into a cup or jug) and the temperature should reach 100^oC + or -1^oC. Then put it in crushed ice and a little cold water. The temperature should read 0^oC + or -1^oC.

If the temperatures don’t read as they should; change the battery and repeat the calibration, send it to the manufacturer for calibration or replace it.