Food Hygiene Standards and your Responsibilities

The Food Standards Act 1999 was created with the main goal of establishing the Food Standards Agency (FSA), an independent government department which monitors the food industry and those working within it to ensure the safety of all involved. The act not only helped establish the FSA but also provided it with the functions and powers that enable it to effectively monitor the sector and thus fulfill its objective to protect public health.

The Food Hygiene Regulations 2006 are a set of laws established by the government to that require all businesses involved in the manufacturing, preparing, selling, and distributing of food to carry out their tasks in a manner which will not harm consumer health. These regulations are widely considered the most important food safety regulations in the UK because they make it a legal offence for any business to supply food that is harmful to consumer health, thus placing a significant emphasis on hygienic and safe working processes. Unlike The Food Standards Act 1999, the Food Hygiene Regulations also specify that it is a legal obligation for all staff members to have adequate food safety training.

There are three separate versions of the regulations, one each for England, Scotland, and Wales.

The two terms are closely related to each other. Food safety is a term which encompasses all aspects leading to the safe production of food. It also includes processes including the ability to withdraw products and ensure the traceability of food. On the other hand, food hygiene relates specifically to the microbiological safety of food. Predominantly foodborne illnesses, which arise because of bacterial, chemical, and physical contaminants.

The Food Standards Act and The Food Hygiene Regulations affect any business involved in food manufacturing, preparing, distribution, selling or serving. This includes businesses from across the food industry including supermarkets, restaurants, cafes, and even farms/animal feed producers. As the needs and food safety risks posed by each business is unique, the FSA provide specific business guidance via their website. Specific guidance is available at the FSA.

Complying with food hygiene standards is of utmost importance for both the performance of your business and the safety of your customers. One of the most impactful ways to ensure your business complies with food hygiene standards is to create, implement, and periodically review a HACCP plan.

Part of creating this plan will involve the identification of all potential food safety risks, and the implementation of control measures, such as the correct storing of potentially harmful products like raw meat. Furthermore, it is the business’ owners responsibility to ensure that all staff have completed the relevant standard of food saftey training. This will ensure that they not only keep the working space hazard free, but will be aware of other control factors such as maintaining high levels of personal hygiene. An effective way of checking that all hygiene training and processes are in place is to create a hygiene checklist and use it to review your business on a regular basis.

Finally, to comply with food hygiene standards and thus achieve an accurate food hygiene rating you must maintain a full set of completed, up-to-date records monitoring things from cooking temperatures to the successful completion of the cleaning rota. These records not only prove that you are successfully completing your HACCP plan, but also will provide valuable information that will enable alterations to be made to your food hygiene processes as and when necessary. Fortunately, Leafe automatically formats the record keeping process transforming the process from tedious and time consuming, to quick and efficient, ensuring you and your staff can focus on other tasks at hand.

Not complying with food hygiene standards is dangerous for both your customers and your business and as such should be avoided at all costs. However, if you do not adhere to the standards and a customer falls ill as a result, you as the business owner may have to pay a fine, pay compensation to the harmed customers, or even face police custody. In extreme circumstances the business may ultimately be closed.

If slipping standards are noticed during an inspection by an environmental health officer your business will be given a poor hygiene rating . This will adversely affect the reputation of your business and will affect sales as a direct result.