Safer food, better business

This food safety management pack has been developed to help small catering businesses such as restaurants, pubs and cafés comply with the new Food Hygiene Regulations introduced in January 2006 and replaced previous food hygiene regulations.

Whilst on the whole the regulations remain the same, one significant change and addition as been the legal requirement to state what you do in your business to ensure you produce food safely, based on the HACCP principles (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points). THIS MUST BE WRITTEN DOWN. A lot of businesses have mis-interpreted this and believe as they already record checks such as fridge and freezer temps, cooking temps, reheat temps etc they are not affected. Whilst these actions are crucial, and prove 'due diligence' they only cover a part of the legal requirements.

It has been long recognised, that most small to medium sized catering businesses have neither the knowledge, time or money to produced their own food safety management system. As a result, the Safer Food Better Business pack was developed by the Food Standards Agency working with catering businesses to provide a practical, easy to use system.

The SFBB pack will help you comply with the new regulations, clearly show what to do to produce food safely, train relevant staff, protect the business's reputation and often improve profit e.g. by wasting less food, tighter controls on stock holding etc.

Chef Support has been working Check Mate International Plc and a number of Local Environmental Health Departments since January 2006, providing guidance on completing and implementing the SFBB pack and ensuring legal compliance.

Many Local Authorities offer free seminars and consultation visits to help businesses with the new regulations. However, government funding has been limited, so many businesses have missed out. Chef Support can provide onsite training and assistance with completing and implementing the SFBB pack. The pack is free and is available either from your local authority or from the FSA (If you would like to order a paper copy, call FSA Publications on 0845 606 0667 or email foodstandards@ecgroup.uk.com) or you can download the full pack in pdf format (2.65MB).

The visit from Chef Support lasts between two and half to three hours and takes place at your business premises. There is no maximum number of employees attending the session, however, experience tells us that the key management responsible for implementing and managing the food safety in your business should be present. Usually the Chef and Manager/Owner.

The cost for the visit is £75.00. However, if you wish to complete the pack yourself, Chef Support can check it through and review your food safety management plan for you before you implement, ensuring legal compliance. Please contact us for details and fees.

Further information on the Food Hygiene (2005) Regulations and SFBB, go to the links page.

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