Licensing
Law & hygiene

Owners and managers of food businesses are responsible for ensuring that their businesses comply with food safety law. 

The four key laws that food businesses in Great Britain must be aware of are Food Safety Act 1990, Food Premises (Registration) Regulations 1991, Food Safety (General Food Hygiene) Regulations 1995 and Food Safety (Temperature Control) Regulations 1995:

Food Safety Act 1990

• You must not sell (or keep for sale) food that is ‘unfit’ for people to eat.

• You must not cause food to be dangerous to health.

• You must not sell food that is not what the customer is entitled to expect, in terms of content or quality.

• You must not describe or present food in a way that is false or misleading.

• The word unfit describes food that is not of a high enough standard for people to eat. Food might become unfit if you keep it past its ‘Use by’ date or do not prepare it correctly. It is important to be able to demonstrate the positive steps taken by your business to ensure good food hygiene. 

Food Premises (Registration) Regulations 1991
If you are planning to start a new food business, you need to register with your local environmental health department at your local authority 28 days before opening. An application form for registering a food premises can be found at the end of this guide.

Food Safety (General Food Hygiene) Regulations 1995
There should be effective food safety management measures in place, to ensure that food is produced safely and that the health of your customers is not put at risk. This involves identifying how and when things go wrong and introducing checks to stop that happening and following the principles of good hygiene. 

The four main things to remember for good hygiene are the 4 Cs:

Cleaning
Effective cleaning gets rid of bacteria on hands, equipment and surfaces. So it helps stop bacteria from spreading onto food. You should do the following things:

• Make sure that all your staff wash and dry their hands thoroughly before handling food.

• Clean food areas and equipment between different tasks, especially after handling raw food.

• Clean as you go. If you spill some food, clear it up straight away and then clean the surface thoroughly.

• Use cleaning products that are suitable for the job, and follow the manufacturer’s instructions.

• Do not let food waste build up.

• A cleaning schedule is a good way to make sure that surfaces and equipment are cleaned when they need to be.  It can stop cleaning products being wasted or used incorrectly.

Cooking
Thorough cooking kills harmful bacteria such as salmonella, campylobacter, E. coli 0157 and listeria in food. So it is extremely important to make sure that food is cooked properly. Undercooked food could cause food poisoning.
When cooking or reheatring food always check that it is piping hot all the way through (and do not reheat more than once). 

It is especially important to make sure that you thoroughly cook poultry, rolled joints and products made from minced meat, such as burgers and sausages. This is because there could be bacteria in the middle of these types of meat. 

Whole cuts (such as steaks) can be served pink/rare at the customer’s request.
When you are keeping cooked food hot, you must keep it above 63C. When you are serving or displaying food, it can be below 63C for a maximum of two hours, but you can only do this once. Then you must throw the food away, or cool it as quickly as possible and keep it chilled until it is used.

Use a hand-held probe to check the core temperature and record a random selection of temperatures in a Temperature Control Book. 

Chilling
Chilling food properly stops bacteria from growing and multiplying. Some foods need to be kept chilled to keep them safe, for example food with a ‘Use by’ date, food that you have cooked and will not be using immediately, or other ready-to-eat food such as prepared salads.

It is very important not to leave these types of food standing around at room temperature. You should do the following things:-

• Check chilled food on delivery to make sure it is cold.

• Put food that needs to be chilled in the fridge straight away.

• Cool cooked food as quickly as possible and then put it in the fridge.

• Keep chilled food out of the fridge for the shortest time possible during preparation.

• Use a fridge thermometer to check regularly that your fridge and display units are cold enough.

• Cold food must be kept at 8C or below and can only be kept above 8C for a maximum of four hours. 

Cross-contamination
Cross contamination is when bacteria spread between food, surfaces or equipment. It is most likely to happen when raw food touches (or drips onto) ready-to-eat food, equipment or surfaces. Do the following to avoid it. 

• Keep raw and ready-to-eat foods apart at all times.

• Wash your hands thoroughly after touching raw food.

• Clean work surfaces, chopping boards and equipment thoroughly before you start preparing food and after you have used them to prepare raw food.

• Ideally use different chopping boards and knives (colour coded, for example, green for vegetables and red for raw meat) for raw and ready-to-eat food.

• Keep raw food below ready-to-eat food in the fridge. If possible use separate fridges for raw and ready-to-eat food.

• Train staff to know how to avoid cross-contamination.

Food Safety (Temperature Control) Regulations 1995
These Regulations cover the following issues:

• The stages of the food chain that are subject to temperature control.

• The temperatures at which certain foods must be kept. 

• Which foods are exempt from specific temperatures controls.

• When the temperature controls allow flexibility.

• Good temperature control is fundamental to food safety in many food businesses.

Enforcement
Environmental health officers will inspect your premises to make sure you are following food hygiene rules. They will offer help and advice on food safety, and can take action if they find that your standards of food hygiene are not satisfactory.

BACK TO LICENSING