FoodSafety

2013

Food HygieneRa�ng Scheme

Top Tips for Disinfec�on

Food Allergies

Guidance onE.coli 0157

Safer Food, Be�er Business

Regulatory Services

Anyone working in a food business should have some kind of

training in food safety. Different levels of qualification will be

appropriate for different food handlers and/or managers,

bearing in mind the requirements of the legislation and the

activities they undertake in the business.

Level 1- developed to raise awareness of key food safety

issues and to provide employees with an induction to food

hygiene, prior to undertaking the Level 2 Award in Food Safety.

This would be appropriate for staff handling low risk or wrapped

foods.

Level 2 – This would be ideal for anyone working in a catering,

manufacturing or retail setting where food is prepared, cooked

and handled.

Level 3 – This would be ideal for managers and supervisors in

small, medium or large catering, manufacturing or retail

businesses. Particularly relevant for those who have to develop

or monitor HACCP based food safety management procedures

and systems.

Level 4 – This would be ideal for managers, supervisors and

senior hygiene personnel including food business owners,

trainers, production managers and hygiene auditors.

Welcome...to the Food Safety

newsletter, brought to you

by Charnwood Borough

Council’s Commercial Team.

We hope that the information in

this newsletter, on our website

and that provided during your

normal routine inspection offers

guidance and advice on current

legislative requirements which

you find helpful.

However if you are ever not

sure or would like further infor-

mation or help please do not

hesitate to contact one of the

Environmental Health Officers

who will be happy to help.

We welcome your comments

and feedback on the newslet-

ter or the service in general.

Please feel free to get in

touch by post to:

Charnwood Borough Council,

Southfield Road,

Loughborough, LE11 2TX

or by email to:

food.hygiene@charnwood.gov.uk

Bacteria Bite BusinessThe FSA’s Bacteria Bite Business video demonstrates the importance of good food

hygiene, focusing on the 4 Cs (Cleaning, Cooking, Chilling and Cross-contamination).

This is available to view online at the Food Standards Agency’s YouTube channel.

The film shows kitchen staff, in a surreal café setting, making the mistakes that

can lead to food poisoning. It also tells viewers what to do to make sure

food will be safe to eat. Watching the video is a fun way to introduce

people to the basics of food hygiene, and also to remind more

experienced people of how important it is to practice good food

hygiene at all times. This video is a useful training tool for:

catering businesses

retail businesses that do some food preparation

local authorities

food hygiene trainers, schools and colleges

Food safetytraining

2

Food Hygiene Ra�ng

food

businesses

are available

online at

www.ratings.food.gov

Food businesses should also

display their certificate showing

their rating actually at the prem-

ises to provide consumers with

on site information about their

hygiene standards at the time

they were last inspected.

The main aim of the food

hygiene rating scheme is to

reduce the incidence of food-

borne illness - one million cases

annually with 20,000

hospitalisations and 500 deaths.

The associated costs to the

economy are in the region of

£1.5 billion annually.

Putting aside the sometimes

serious consequences of poor

food hygiene, the rating scheme

also makes good business

sense - the scheme gives

recognition and a useful

marketing tool to those

businesses that meet legal

requirements and an incentive

to those not meeting the grade

to improve.

The scheme is designed so that

all businesses, no matter how

small, can achieve the top rating

and it includes a number of

safeguards

to ensure that

businesses are

treated fairly and

equitably.

Analysis of the figures in March

2013 showed that 59 % of

businesses held the highest

rating of 5 in the District.

Of the remainaing, 21% held a

rating of 4, 11% held a rating of

3, 0.2% held a rating of 2 and

0.2% held a rating of 1 and less

than 0.01% held a rating of 0.

We are keen to work with

businesses to improve ratings

and are happy to provide

support and advice on request.

The scheme is not just

confined to food businesses in

Charnwood with the

National Food Hygiene Scheme

operating right across England,

Wales and Northern Ireland

where almost all local

authorities are taking part.

The Food Hygiene rating

system has been operating in

Charnwood for nearly two

years.

It was introduced to enable the

general public to make

informed choices about where

they buy and/or eat food within

the Charnwood borough.

If your business is a

restaurant, takeaway, cafe,

sandwich shop, pub, hotel,

supermarket or any other

retail food outlet you will be

scored as part of the scheme

and your customers will not only

be able to check out your menu,

but will also be able to check out

the food hygiene rating of your

food business as well!

Charnwood has over 1,280 food

businesses across the borough

with all of those businesses

regularly inspected by our team

of Environmental Health

Officers.

When an inspection takes place

an assessment is made of the

overall level of hygiene at the

business and the business is

then awarded a score of

between 0 (urgent improvement

necessary) at the bottom to 5

(very good) at the top.

This information is available to

you and your customers and the

hygiene ratings for Charnwood

3

contamination to an

acceptable level. Disinfection

can only be successfully

carried out on surfaces that

have been thoroughly cleaned

to remove grease and dirt, as

the effectiveness of

disinfection is reduced in the

presence of food matter.

Different types of disinfectants

require different dilutions and

contact times. These are

specified and validated by the

manufacturer and you must

follow the manufacturer’s

instructions for dilution and

contact time to ensure the

product is effective. Disinfection

should be followed by a final

rinse of the surface or

equipment with potable water

to remove any remaining

chemical, unless it is formulated

for use without a final rinse.

So where should you

disinfect?

As well as disinfecting food

contact surfaces eg work

surfaces, food containers,

sinks used for washing of food,

and chopping boards; you

should also disinfect hand

contact surfaces including taps

and fridge handles etc.

Better Business for All is a local partnership between Businesses and Regulatory Services to help

promote growth. It benefits from a breadth of professional expertise which allows it to provide quality

guidance and advice to businesses enabling them to comply with their statutory obligations.

If you are starting or looking to expand your business you can contact them for advice on

0871 384 3185.

You can also access a Regulatory Advice Pack which has been produced to help businesses which

can be downloaded for free at www.llep.org.uk/advice_pack.

During food hygiene inspections,

the standard of cleaning and

disinfection is one of the most

important areas an inspector

will look at.

It is important that cleaning is

done correctly following proven

cleaning regimes not only to

remove visual debris but also

to remove surface bacteria that

will not be visible to the naked

eye. As a food business

operator you should understand

what chemicals used for

cleaning and disinfection do,

and that the correct products,

which are purchased from

reputable suppliers, are always

used in accordance with the

manufacturers instructions.

As a general guide:

• detergents are products used

for general cleaning. These do

not have disinfectant proper-

ties and if used on their own,

are not capable of destroying

harmful bacteria such as E.

coli O157.

• disinfectants are products

that are capable of destroying

harmful bacteria when applied

to visibly clean surfaces at a

specified dilution and contact

time.

• sanitisers are products that

combine a disinfectant and a

detergent in a single product.

This means that the same

product can be used to

provided a visibly clean

surface and it must be used a

second time in order to

disinfect the surface.

Chemical cleaning process

Stage 1: Detergent

Chemical cleaning involves the

physical removal of visible dirt,

food particles and debris from

surfaces and equipment that

come into contact with food,

along with the removal of

waste from areas where food

processing occurs. The

detergents selected for use in

each situation must be capable

of removing all food debris

solids and grease. General

cleaning should always be

completed by rinsing to ensure

thorough removal of all

residues from the surface prior

to stage two.

Stage 2: Disinfection

Disinfectants that have been

proven capable of destroying

disease-causing bacteria

should be applied after general

cleaning to reduce microbial

Be�er Business for All

Top �ps for disinfec�ng

4

Sous VideSous Vide is French for “under vacuum” and describes a

method of cooking in vacuum sealed plastic pouches at low

temperatures for long periods.

It differs from conventional cooking methods as the raw food is

cooked using precisely controlled heating methods. This

method of cooking is said to maintain the integrity of the

ingredients and therefore should produce foods with enhanced

flavours.

However this method can also carry significant potential food

safety risks and needs to be carefully controlled – if you are

thinking about using this method please contact someone in the

Environmental Health Department on 01509 634656.

If you use sous vide already as a cooking method in your

business your Environmental Health Officer will want to see the

following paperwork in addition to your documented food safety

management system:

suppliers list for sous vide products including food and

packaging

documented safe methods for each product and information

on how the methods have been validated to show the product

will be safe (this includes time, temperature and sizes for all

sous vide products).

calibration records for the probe and water bath.

temperature records of the water, core time/temperatures of

foods, cooling records, storage time/temperatures and

reheating time/temperature records.

evidence of staff training on the sous vide process.

E.coliBacteria, such as E.coliO157, are invisible to thenaked eye, so they can easilybe spread to food without yourealising. These bacteriacould make your customersseriously ill, and even kill.

If your business handles rawfood, which could be contaminated with E.coli O157,in the same establishment asready-to-eat food, there willbe a greater risk. Raw food,such as meat, fruit and vegetables, that have been incontact with the soil and arenot supplied as ready-to-eat,should be handled as if theyare contaminated by E.coli O157.

Enclosed with this newsletteris the E.coli O157 factsheetthat has been produced bythe Food Standards Agencywhich highlights the strictmeasures that are necessaryto control E.coli O157.

Key control measures involve:separation of equipmentand staff involved in handlingraw food from staff andequipment that handleready-to-eat food

effective cleaning and disinfection

personal hygiene and handwashing.

The Environmental HealthTeam will be focusing on thecontrol measures highlightedin the enclosed leaflet duringyour next routine inspection.Please read the leaflet carefully, and if you have anyquestions or require any further information please contact us on 01509 634656. 5

Safer food,

better business

(SFBB) is a practical

approach to managing your

food safety.

It is really designed to help

small businesses put in place

food safety management

procedures and comply with

food hygiene regulations.

Larger Businesses are

expected to have more

detailed Food Safety

Management Systems in place

called ‘HACCP’.

All packs are FREE. They are

designed for different types of

businesses, but the ‘Safer

Food Better Business Pack’ is

really aimed at ‘small’ retail

and catering businesses,

restaurants and takeaways.

Different cuisines and different

languages are available to

help everyone including

Chinese, Indian, Pakistani,

Bangladeshi and Sri Lankan

cuisines.

There is also a supplement for

care homes that is designed to

be used with the pack for

caterers and staff working in

small

residential

care homes

to prepare

and cook safer

food for their

residents which

includes:

extra care: protecting food

gift food

mini-kitchens

Plus a safe method

completion record for care

homes that includes the

additional safe methods.

To accompany the SFBB

packs a DVD is available as an

introduction to food hygiene

'Working with food? What youneed to know before you start',available in 16 different

languages.

This has been produced to

help food businesses

implement SFBB and train

staff on SFBB.

The guide can be viewed

online at

food.gov.uk/sfbbtraining or you

can download a copy to your

computer. If you would like to

order an SFBB pack or the

DVD guide call The Food

Standards Agency Publications

on 0845 606 0667 or email

foodstandards@ecgroup.co.uk

How do I fill out the diary

sheets?

There is a lot of confusion over

this. Use the diary sheets to

record any thing out of the

ordinary that happens in the

business. Here are some

examples:

Chef sent home suffering

from a stomach upset -

reminded of return to work

procedure.

Fresh food delivery late -

alternative purchased from

supermarket.

Mouse droppings found in

dry goods store - pest control

contractor called out

immediately

Customer complained of

undercooked chicken. Meal

replaced and staff retrained

on safe cooking method

Fridge operating at 9°C two

consecutive mornings.

Fridge engineer called to

service.

If you aren’t sure about

something please call us for

advice on 01509 634635.

Safer food, be�er business

6

Food Allergy Update

allergen

content of

non-prepacked

food. However, there

is a requirement that food

placed on the market for sale

must be safe to eat. The Food

Safety Act 1990 requires food

to be of the nature, substance

and quality demanded by the

customer.

When you provide ingredient

information, either when talking

to customers or through a no-

tice or label, it must be accu-

rate. If the information you

provide is not accurate, you

could be breaking the law.

The law will be changing in

December 2014, when the law

will require allergen information

to be provided for foods sold

unpackaged, and this will

include food sold in restaurants,

takeaways, pubs, deli counters,

sandwich bars and bakeries.

Please note that the

information you will need to

provide to customers relates to

all 14 food allergens specified

in the legislation, if used in

your food business.

Further information regarding

information that you should

provide to customers as well

as the new labelling law for

allergens such as nuts,

peanuts, egg, fish etc, can be

obtained

from

Leicestershire

Trading

Standards on the

following telephone

number 0116 305 5000 or

email address:

TradingStandards@leics.gov.uk

Food allergy information

You may need to improve

allergen management and

handling practices within your

food business. You will also

have to train serving staff so

that they can provide clear and

accurate allergen information.

To help with this, the Food

Standards Agency has a free

online training module and this

can be accessed on

http://allergytraining.food.gov.uk

Further information on food

allergy can also be found on:

www.food.gov.uk/safereating/

allergyintol

Further information is also

available on our website:

www.charnwood.gov.uk

It is important to know what

to do if you serve a customer

who has a food allergy, be-

cause these allergies can be

life-threatening.

Unfortunately, two recent

deaths have occurred

nationally which resulted from

allergic reactions to peanuts in

people with known peanut

allergies.

Both cases followed

consumption of food ordered

from takeaway establishments,

although there is no suggestion

of any fault by the businesses

concerned. It appears that the

customers did not specifically

ask about the use of peanuts in

the dishes they were intending

to buy, but instead relied either

on menu descriptions or on the

fact that they had previously

eaten a dish with the same

name from another business

with no harmful reaction.

Information provided by food

businesses

Current food law does not

require takeaways or

restaurants to declare all the

allergens used in the foods

they offer and, although some

caterers may provide some

description and list key

ingredients in a dish (such as

chicken korma made with

cream and almonds), not all

ingredients, and critically, not

all allergenic foods, will

necessarily be listed.

Currently there is no requirement

to provide information of the 7

This newsletter is produced

by Charnwood Borough

Council’s Commercial Team.

If you have any questions or

comments, please feel free to

contact our

Environmental Health

Officers at:

Charnwood Borough Council,

Southfield Road,

Loughborough, LE11 2TX

Email: food.hygiene@

charnwood.gov.uk

Tel: 01509 634656

www.charnwood.gov.uk

June 2013

8