How To Follow Food Safety Rules

Are you following all the food safety rules?

If your company deals with food, you may want to take a look at the food safety rules that you need to adhere to.

The Food Safety Act 1990

The main points that come from The Food Safety Act 1990 shape food legislation in the UK. The Act states that when it comes to selling food make sure you are not misleading someone by saying the food is of a different quality or substance than it actually is. This could be done by word of mouth, labelling, advertising or marketing. You must display your food hygiene rating in full view if you sell food directly to the public. Businesses also must remove, include or treat food anyway that could be potentially damaging to the user.

The Food Standards Act 1999

The Food Standards Act 1999 was designed to establish the Food Standards Agency (FSA). The act allows the FSA to monitor the industry and is allowed to intervene in view to assure food is safe and of good quality.

Basics Food Hygiene and Food Safety Rules

It may sound obvious but you need to make sure your food is safe to eat for the consumer; treat the food as if you are going to consume it yourself and avoid making it harmful to eat.

Remove unsafe food

Always remove any unsafe food from your workstation and complete the relevant incident report form afterwards. You also need to make people aware of why you have removed the food and why you have recalled previously removed food.

Traceability of food

It is important to ensure you are also keeping records of where you got your food from (traceability); you may be required to provide this information at any time to have it to hand.

Keeping kitchen surfaces and utensils clean

Are your “food contact materials clean”? Surfaces, cooking equipment, packaging and food processing equipment all need to be kept in a clean condition at all times. If the food contact materials change the food or transfer anything onto the food, the food isn’t safe for consumption. By keeping the workstation clean it will prevent the food from being affected by bacteria such as salmonella, E.coli 0157 and campylobacter.

Keep raw food and cooked food separated

If you touch safely prepared food with raw food it can become dangerous. Make sure that you use a separate utensil for raw and cooked food a continuously wash contaminated surfaces and objects.

Cook food thoroughly

In order to remove any potentially harmful organisms from raw food, it must be cooked through. You must cook all parts of the food to a high enough temperature to make it safe. Check your food before serving and continue cooking if it is still raw/cold in places.

How to store food safely

When storing hot food, allow it to cool before transferring it to the refrigerator and do not refreeze it! If you plan to keep the food hot that’s fine, just ensure that the food remains near or above 60 °C.

What is HACCP Plan for Food Safety?

Food professionals use (HACCP) Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point plans to help keep your food safe from chemical, physical and biological safety hazards.

HACCP is based on 7 principles which ensure effective controls throughout the processing of food:

• Conduct a Hazard Analysis
• Identify the Critical Control Points
• Establish Critical Limits
• Monitor Critical Control Points
• Establish Corrective Action
• Verification

Food Safety Training

If you would like to attend a food safety training course book online here.

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