Every food operator needs to have something written down about the steps they take to keep food safe. This is at every stage from food delivery, storage, handling, preparation and service and is called a food safety management system. Having something written down shows that food safety procedures have been thought through carefully and are being properly applied. You can use it to train staff on your procedures and when used properly, will help to give you a better food hygiene rating score.
You can draw up your own food safety management system document, or the Food Standards Agency has published a document called Safer Food Better Business that can be found at www.food.gov.uk/business-guidance/safer-food-better-business which may be relevant to your business and you may print off and use. If you do not have a printer, a copy of the catering pack is available at the council offices in Ripley for £15.00 and 6 months worth of diary is provided with the pack. Other food safety management systems are available which you may find more appropriate for your business such as the 'safe catering' management guide (produced by the Food Standards Agency in Northern Ireland); and Safe Food Handling for butchers available at acss.food.gov.uk/sites/default/files/butchers-haccp.pdf.
If you used the Amber Valley Borough council food safety management system in the past, please note that this is no longer being updated and made available. It was last updated in 2017. But you can still use this pack if you keep it updated. You should use the Food Standards Agency website and keep track of updates such as the new E. coli guidance issued in 2019 to update your document. Alternatively you can adopt another food management system.
When a business handles both raw and ready to eat food there is a risk of cross-contamination and the food safety management system should include how this is prevented. The Food Standards Agency has released guidance on controlling cross contamination of E. coli O157, which if followed will also help in the control of other bacteria, such as campylobacter and salmonella. This was released after inquiries into food poisoning outbreaks in Scotland in 1996 and Wales in 2005 where people died and hundreds were made seriously ill due to cross contamination with E. coli O157.
The E. coli O157: control of cross contamination guidance by the Food Standards agency. The link takes you to the full guidance, a summary of the guidance and ‘your questions answered’. The guidance shows that the best way to prevent cross contamination is by completely separating raw and ready to eat food by having separate equipment, food preparation areas, storage and where possible, keeping separate staff in raw and clean areas.
Regulation (EC) No 852/2004 on the hygiene of foodstuffs (Article 5) states that:
'Food business operators must put into place, implement and maintain a permanent procedure based on the principles of hazard analysis critical control points (HACCP). The HACCP principles referred to above consist of the following:
When any modification is made in the product, process, or any step, food business operators shall review the procedure and make the necessary changes to it'.
No matter what the nature or size of the food business, owners will have to ensure that they have a sound food safety management system in place.
You must ensure your management system is kept up to date and any records that you state you are to keep are also kept up to date. Your management system and documentation must be presented to an authorised officer when they request it from you.
Contact the team directly on 01773 841335 or email foodsafety@ambervalley.gov.uk
