Food Policy

Our aim for food safety is to:

• support and assist businesses to achieve a greater than broadly compliant food hygiene rating (such as a rating greater than 3 and therefore described as 'generally satisfactory')
• provide consistent, accurate and up-to-date information aimed at providing protection to customers, employees and visitors
• support and assist businesses to comply with their legal obligations to ensure that food and workplaces are safe

We'll achieve our aims by:

• ensuring that poor performing businesses are proportionately targeted with enforcement action
• providing current and relevant information to businesses
• ensuring officers are equipped with tools to effectively support businesses
• supporting compliant businesses and organisations
• positively engaging in the Primary Authority Partnership scheme
• promoting the food hygiene rating scheme
• exploring and implementing innovative opportunities and approaches to working with other regulatory stakeholders to improve businesses’ experience

The service will be delivered through:

• routine programmed inspection of food businesses, at a frequency determined by a nationally recognised risk assessment, with appropriate follow-up action
• assessment of relevant food hygiene premises to determine their food hygiene score in terms of the Food Hygiene Rating Scheme and which will be published on the Food Standards Agency website
• routine self-assessment questionnaires to businesses assessed to be low risk
• investigation of complaints with appropriate follow-up action
• investigation of incidents with appropriate follow-up action
• participation in national and local food sampling programmes
• appropriate training, development and monitoring of officers
• provision of information, coaching and advice to businesses about legal requirements and good practices
• provision of relevant food safety courses for food handlers and a chargeable advice service to businesses
• promotional activities to inform and encourage high standards in businesses
• promotional activities to educate the consumer in food hygiene and safety

Priority will be given to targeting those activities that pose the greatest risk to the consumer arising from the consumption of food.

This will be by:

• the correct and uniform identification of high-risk areas during programmed inspections and as a result of complaint and incident investigation and to concentrate efforts to reduce these risks
• focusing enforcement efforts on those businesses who pose the greatest risks e.g. those that are not broadly compliant
• identifying and taking enforcement action against persistent offenders or where risk is such that immediate action is required
• encouraging compliance with the law
• engaging in those promotional activities for businesses and consumers, which are most likely to foster improved safety