Key regulations for food establishments
The key aims for the regulations that responsible food establishments need to adhere to are to protect the health of the public. They ensure you're following food safety and hygiene processes, and lay out clear guidelines on how to meet your responsibilities.
The Food Safety Act 1990
The primary legislation for food safety in the UK is the Food Safety Act 1990. It applies to the whole of the UK and is the foundation for many other food safety regulations.
The Food Safety Act ensures that food safety and standards are maintained in all food establishments, focusing on guaranteeing food safety and prohibiting misleading food descriptions through labelling or advertising.
Food Standards Act 1999
This act was to establish the Food Standards Agency (FSA) as the independent government department responsible for food hygiene and safety across the UK and enables enforcement actions such as prosecutions, seizures, and safety recalls.
The FSA’s fundamental mission statement is “Food you can trust”. Their role is to protect public health in relation to food, enforce food safety regulations, issue guidance, and conduct research.
General Food Law
Initially an EU legislation which was written into UK law after Brexit, General Food Law protects human health and consumer’s interest in relation to food. It applies to all stages of production, processing and distribution of food and feed with some exceptions.
To place safe food on the market food businesses must ensure:
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traceability of food
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appropriate presentation of food
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suitable food information?
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prompt withdrawal or recall of unsafe food placed on the market
Domestic Food Information Regulations 2014
This legislation sets out the guidelines that food business operators in the retail and catering sector are required to provide allergen information and follow labelling rules.
To comply with this legislation, food business operators must:
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provide allergen information to the consumer for both prepacked and non-prepacked food and drink
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handle and manage food allergens effectively in food preparation
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ensure their staff receive training on allergens
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inform customers if any food they provide may contain any of the 14 allergens as an ingredient.
The 14 allergens are:
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celery
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cereals containing gluten (such as wheat, rye, barley, and oats)
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crustaceans (such as prawns, crabs and lobsters)
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eggs
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fish
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lupin
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milk
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molluscs (such as mussels and oysters)
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mustard
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peanuts
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sesame
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soybeans
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sulphur dioxide and sulphites (if the sulphur dioxide and sulphites are at a concentration of more than ten parts per million)
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tree nuts (such as almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, brazil nuts, cashews, pecans, pistachios and macadamia nuts)
This also applies to additives, processing aids and any other substances which are present in the final product.
Natasha's Law
Natasha's law covers England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland and requires all food outlets to provide full ingredient lists with clear allergen labelling on 'PPDS' food.
(PPDS) PrePacked for Direct Sale is food that is prepared, prepacked and offered or sold to consumers on the same premises. It can include food you select yourself (e.g. from a display unit), as well as products kept behind a counter, or food sold at mobile or temporary outlets.
The new labelling requirements do not apply to PPDS food sold by distance selling, such as food that can be purchased over the phone or on the internet such as Facebook. Businesses selling PPDS food must ensure that mandatory top 14 allergen information is available to consumers before purchasing the product and also when you receive it.
Compliance and inspections
Once you are ready to start your food business, you must register with your local authority at least 28 days before you begin trading.Your local council will be in charge of inspecting your food premises.
Authorised officers can carry out inspections at any time, but how often your business is routinely inspected will depend on the type of business.
Authorised officers are there to advise and give you an opportunity to improve standards. They will allow you enough time to make changes, unless there is an immediate risk to public health; they will take action if they find that your standards of food hygiene are not good enough. In serious cases this could mean closing the premises, or even prosecution.
A visit will consist of checking you are complying with food law and producing food that is safe to eat. They will look at:
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your premises
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how you work
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your food safety management system
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the types of food you make and prepare
Authorised officers may visit your premises for several reasons, including:
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food hygiene and food standards inspections
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sampling
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complaint follow-up
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advisory visits
They can arrive at any time you are open and will usually come unannounced, so making sure you always have food safety and hygiene at the forefront of your mind is important.
Best practices for food safety
Keeping standards high is crucial for your business; it will ensure you are compliant with regulations as well as keeping customers safe and satisfied.
To help you keep standards high here are some best practice tips.
Regular training
Schedule regular staff training on Food Safety for ALL employees.
Staff training should cover hygiene practices, safe food handling, storage procedures, allergen management, and how to prevent cross-contamination.
Make sure it includes real-world scenarios like how to store raw and cooked foods, correct handwashing techniques, surface cleaning and breakdown.
A well structured onboarding and staff training plan could involve:
Structured onboarding
Your onboarding process should include comprehensive food safety training. This should be done as soon as physically possible, ideally within the first week of employment.
You should cover hygiene practices, food handling, allergen awareness, and emergency procedures.
Annual refresher training
Keeping your training records up to date is of paramount importance, especially when it comes time to be audited or inspected. Conduct mandatory refresher training for all staff at least once a year.
Doing this will keep all staff up to date with the latest food safety concepts and regulatory changes.
Quarterly updates
By offering shorter update sessions every three to six months you can address specific topics, new procedures or updates.
Training after incidents or inspections
Immediately after any food safety incident, violation, or inspection that highlights deficiencies you should make sure all staff are completely up to speed in these areas.
Focus on the areas where the incident occurred, ensuring that all staff understand what went wrong and how to prevent it happening again.
Ongoing training
Ongoing, informal training should be a daily occurrence. Supervisors should provide guidance and reinforcement of food safety practices during daily briefings or staff meetings.
Specialised training for high risk areas
Employees working in higher risk areas such as handling allergens, raw meats or operating machinery should have training at least every 6 months to keep up to date on specific hazards and control measures relevant to the tasks they are performing on a regular basis.
Maintaining accurate records
Keeping records up to date and easily accessible is paramount. You need to ensure you have up to date records on what staff training has been completed, what training each team member has undertaken, the date it was completed and when it needs refreshing.
You’ll also need to keep detailed records of all food safety practices, including temperature logs, cleaning schedules, and pest control measures. These records need to be maintained consistently and be easily accessible when needed for inspection.
Document all internal and external food safety inspections and maintain a clear audit trail by recording corrective actions taken in response to any identified issues. These should be dated and initialled or signed by the person reviewing.
You could also consider using digital record-keeping systems to help with these processes and reduce the risk of paperwork being lost.
Carrying out regular checks
Carry our regular self-audits to help identify any potential issues or missed inspection items.
Food storage, preparation surfaces, and equipment should be checked regularly. Assign responsibility to specific staff members to increase accountability and overall pride in the workplace. Regular checks ensure you keep up to date with the latest regulations and your premises are ready for inspection.
Seek and use customer feedback
You should encourage customer (and employee) feedback. Offer surveys, comment cards, or ask for online reviews. Make it easy for people to access these at all times.
Pay close attention to comments related to food quality, hygiene, and service and act swiftly to rectify any issues.
Be honest; let your customers know how their feedback is used to improve food safety. This builds trust and shows a commitment to maintaining high standards.
Aim to exceed regulatory requirements
Achieving certification from recognised third parties can enhance your reputation for safety, quality and hygiene. By using the above methods you can ensure you are meeting or exceeding all UK food safety regulations, and more importantly, keeping your customers safe.
How can CPL help you?
In this article we’ve looked at the key regulations for food establishments and the best practices you can put in place to make sure your business is as safe as possible.
To help you further, CPL offers various courses that will help keep your staff compliant.
We offer the only course on the market to be endorsed by Allergen Accreditation Allergen and Natasha’s Law, as well as various courses for food safety and hygiene.
This includes Food Safety Awareness which aims to fulfil the legal requirement for trained food handlers to carry out their job safely and effectively.
To discuss your food safety training requirements further don’t hesitate to get in touch.