Businesses

It is our aim to work along side business in the area to maintain high levels of food hygiene.

The following pages are aimed to help you, as a food business operator, to comply with the legislation.

Report it

If you want to make a complaint about a business you are working for, please contact the Food and Safety team.

We are prioritising high risk complaints particularly to do with persons who have suffered an injury or food poisoning. All complaints will be assessed on an individual risk basis.

Or you can use the following link to see how we deal with food complaints.

Starting a food business?

Starting any new business can be a little daunting, so we have designed a checklist of things you will need to do from a food hygiene perspective.

All food businesses must be registered with us 28 days before they commence trading. Please complete the registration form and return to us.

To help you understand your obligations under food hygiene legislation you can obtain a lot of information from our Food Safety Guide (pdf, Sept 11, 138KB). This also provides information of layout, design and structural finishes.

More information and advice can be found on the FSA website.

Written Food Safety System / Safer Food Better Business (SFBB)

Its necessary for you, as a business, to produce a written food safety system based on hazard analysis and critical control point (HACCP) principles. This is essentially a risk assessment to prevent food contamination.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) have produced a free tailor made HACCP system called Safer Food Better Business.

These are free to download or order from the FSA here, or you can call the SFBB number below to request a pack:

• Caterers

• Retailers

• Child minders

Refill packs for the SFBB diary please contact 0845 606 0667 or email foodstandards@ecgroup.ac.uk.

Food safety guide

We have put together a food safety guide full of information to help you run your business in line with the legal standards.

Download the Food Safety Guide here (pdf, Sept 11, 138KB).

Download our quick guide on temperature control here (pdf, Sept 11, 42KB).

Training

The Food and Safety team offer a Chartered Institute of Environmental Health level 2 course in food hygiene.

You can book training with us by calling the Food and Safety team.

It is advised that within 3 months of starting work the person who handles open high risk food is suitably trained and/or supervised in food hygiene matters. The level 2 course provides suitable training for this.

If you have a new member of staff, then as a food business operator you should go through the Essentials of food hygiene (pdf, Sept 11, 57KB) with them.

The Food Standards Agency has released a number of online food hygiene training videos which could be useful in training your staff.

Accidents

You have a duty to safeguard the health, safety and welfare of your employees, contractors and members of the public who may visit your business.

You must ensure that all equipment, structure and conditions at work are maintained in a safe condition.

To find out more on what you should do if there is an accident in the workplace, you can:

Report it to the Incident Contact Centre on 0845 300 9923 or go online to RIDDOR.

Cleaning and disinfection

It is your responsibility to ensure that your premises are thoroughly cleaned and disinfected regularly. Particular attention must be paid to surfaces and items in contact with food.

For more information about cleaning, download our cleaning and disinfection advice leaflet (pdf, Sept 11, 55KB) form.

A cleaning schedule template can be found within the cleaning section of the SFBB full pack.

Additional care must be paid by all food handlers to avoid cross contamination with E.coli O157 bacteria. The FSA guide should be download and implemented if this effects your business.

Planning an event

Depending on the size/ scale of your event, you may need to contact the events management team.

If you are planning a smaller one off event, you may wish to refer to our guide to planning small/ community events (pdf, Sept 11, 64KB).

Food hygiene rating system

We inspect all good premises in North Somerset to ensure that they are compliant with the current legal requirements and supply food that is safe to eat.

Businesses are given a rating and sticker/ certificate to display. Customers will be able to view the rating your business has by searching on the Food Hygiene Rating Scheme website.

To find out more about how the scheme works, what the ratings are and what they mean, you can view our how the food hygiene rating scheme works webpage.

Microbes and health risks

We act on reports passed to us by GPs, the public, businesses, hospitals and other local authorities about food and water borne infectious diseases.

To find out more about infectious diseases and what you can do to prevent them in your food business, please see more information on microbes and health risks.

Avoiding cross contamination

You can find information on how to prevent cross-contamination in your kitchen by downloading our Food Safety Guide (pdf, Sept 11, 138KB).

Alternatively more information on how to prepare food safely can be found on the NHS website.

Plan ahead for power outages

In the eventuality that your business suffers a power loss you will need to be aware of how this will effect the food you store. For more information on this click here.

Advice for home catering businesses

We have created a home caterers guide (pdf, Sept 11, 68KB) to steer you though what you need to do in terms of registering your business and tips on how to maintain a HSE compliant business.

Please note that as a home caterer you will still need to register your business using the same forms as larger corporations.

Information leaflet directory

• Code of practice for caterers and mobile food vendors (pdf, Sept 11, 84KB)

• Disposal of used cooking oil (pdf, Sept 11, 67KB)

• E.coli O157 fact sheet (pdf, Sept 11, 137KB)

• E.coli O157 guide (pdf, Sept 11, 339KB)

• Essentials of food hygiene (pdf, Sept 11, 57KB)

• Food Safety Guide (pdf, Sept 11, 138KB)

• Foreign objects in food (pdf, Sept 11, 65KB)

• Home caterers guide (pdf, Sept 11, 68KB)

• Local Food Directory

• Temperature control (pdf, Sept 11, 42KB)

• Round worms (found in fish) (pdf, Sept 11, 52KB)

• Vacuum pack fact sheet (pdf, Sept 11, 453KB)

• Vacuum pack guide (pdf, Sept 11, 231KB)