| This section provides an update
and overview of food-related industries and current
issues.
Food Safety Standards
Food safety management (HACCP) systems continue to be a major point of focus
for compliance with the Food Hygiene (England) Regulations and related EC 852/2004,
EC 853/2004 Regulations.
How can Ellison-Webb Training help?
Food Safety Law
It is a legal requirement for ALL food businesses to have a documented food safety
management system.
The Food Standards Agency's "Safer Food Better Business" pack is now being widely
used in smaller catering businesses, but it seems that there are some inconsistencies
throughout the catering industry as to how it is being used. Some are managing to
comply with the requirements of their local authority by just ticking the check boxes
and recording faults, whereas other businesses (and Environmental Health Officers) feel
that the system should be supplemented by extra monitoring records such as temperature
control sheets. We feel that a thorough approach is necessary, but the system should
be applicable to each individual business, due to the huge diversity of this industry.
For food manufacturers and large scale caterers, a formal HACCP system is, and has
been for a long time, important not only for legal compliance, but for promoting global
trade and securing larger contracts. The customer audit is an exacting process! The
challenge for many companies is to maintain throughput, quality and safety standards
and profits, whilst keeping ahead of the technological changes and market forces.
A complicated equation!
At Ellison-Webb, our commitment is to work with organisations to enable the
development of effective systems.
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Additional Food Hygiene Management
Tips
- Make a commitment to actively manage hygiene, most businesses that are prosecuted
have lost control.
- Invest in your people; without their support and understanding, controls and
systems won't work.
- Ask your EHO for help and advice
- Make sure your business is registered with the local environmental health
department, Regulation EC 852/2004 states that you must register a new business,
and/or change of ownership. It costs nothing, but you could be in breach of
legislation if you haven't done it.
- A good starting point for setting up a Food Safety Management System (HACCP),
is to identify the start and finish points of your main products, and draw up a
flow chart. Ask key members of your staff and management team to look at it and
confirm whether it is true, and then walk it through.
- Make sure your food hygiene knowledge is detailed enough for you to identify
the major microbial, chemical and physical and allergenic hazards in your food
products. If not, train to a higher level, or bring in some expert advice.
- When setting up your documentation for critical hazard control points; try
to identify common monitoring areas and combine documents to reduce the amount
of paperwork you have to do; keep it realistic.
- Don't forget to consult with your team as to whether the system is working
or not, and whether the corrective action for making the product safe to eat is
having to be used more often than you would wish. This indicates that the control
is not really effective and needs to be adjusted.
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