Food Safety

Food Hygiene And Health

Huntingdonshire District Council has a statutory duty to enforce food safety legislation.

There are currently just over 1,300 registered food premises within the District Council area ranging from the small home caterer to the large food manufacturer. A copy of this register is available for public view at Pathfinder House.

Our overall aims and objectives are to ensure through education and enforcement the safety and cleanliness of food from production through to the point of sale, to protect the public against the sale of unfit and unwholesome food or food containing extraneous matter, and to ensure the observance of hygienic practices.

What does the food team do?

Listed below are the duties that the food team performs:

Carry out regular inspections of food premises to check on the standard of food hygiene.
Promote good food hygiene practice and provide training courses.
Offer free advice on food safety matters.
Close unhygienic premises which are a risk to health.
Use legal notices to raise standards in food premises.
Investigate customer complaints about food and food businesses.
Prosecute those businesses which do not comply with food safety legislation.
Investigate complaints about foreign bodies in food.
Carry out bacterial sampling of food and water to see if it is safe.
Investigate cases of food poisoning and infectious illness.

What can you expect from the food team?

The Food Team will:-

Commence investigations of all food complaints, within 3 days of receipt.
Respond on the day of receipt to all food poisoning incidents notified to us.
Carry out regular routine hygiene inspections in accordance with a laid down programme.
Carry out routine food sampling.
Respond immediately to food hygiene warnings.
Keep you fully informed of the progress made with your enquiry or complaint.
Will respond to your letters within 5 working days of receipt.
Use properly trained staff who are polite and professional.

Service Plan For Food Law Enforcement

The Food Service Plan is dedicated to the food safety enforcement function. It covers all elements of food safety and hygiene for which Huntingdonshire District Council has enforcement responsibility.

This service plan has been produced in response to a requirement by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) in its Framework Agreement on Local Authority Food Law Enforcement. The FSA was established in April 2000 as an independent monitoring and advisory body in response to widespread public concern over a number of food safety issues including the BSE scare and the E. Coli food poisoning outbreak in Scotland in 1996. One aim of the FSA is to make food law enforcement more effective, efficient and accountable.

The Service Plan sets out how Huntingdonshire District Council will deliver the food safety enforcement function in accordance with current guidelines.

Please see the link opposite for the Service Plan for Food Law Enforcement