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Food Safety

The aim of the Food Safety Act and associated regulations is to ensure that all food sold to the public is safe, has been hygienically handled and produced and is properly described on its label. One of the responsibilities of Haringey Council Environmental Services Division is to enforce food safety legislation.

On this page:

You will find our draft Service Plan for Food Safety in the attached files section below.

Food Safety Week

10 to 16 June 2013

On average, our Commercial Environmental Health Team receives over 200 food poisoning notifications each year. People in the South East of England are putting their health at risk when cooking at home, a new survey has shown. 85% of those asked in the South East of England admitted to one or more habits that put them at risk of food poisoning, including 28% admitting they would eat food that has been dropped on the floor and 24% not washing their hands properly before preparing food.

These kitchen horrors have been exposed at the start of Food Safety Week, which runs from 10 to 16 June. During the week, our Commercial Environmental Health Team wants to get people in Haringey thinking about food hygiene at home, by completing the new kitchen check which can be found on the Food Standard Agency's Food Safety Week 2013: kitchen check page (external link).

The kitchen check asks you to look at your own food preparation practices and will give you a score and some tips based on your answers.

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Food Safety Tips

  • Take food safety to heart
  • Be wise; always wash your hands after handling raw meat and poultry
  • Take time and make sure all your food is thoroughly cooked
  • Make sure you give yourself ample time to prepare and cook the festive meals
  • Keep any leftovers, covered in the fridge
  • Reheat food properly until it is piping hot
  • Follow manufacturer’s instructions when cooking
  • Never put raw meat alongside ready to eat foods like cold meats and salads
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Our role

Some of the functions that Environmental Health Officers (EHOs) carry out to ensure that food is safe for sale include

  • food hygiene and standards inspections and registration of all food businesses
  • food safety: hygienic premises and practices
  • advising on food hazard analysis
  • food standards: labelling and quality
  • Health and Safety at Work in food premises for staff and members of the public
  • advice and Training Courses on food safety matters for the public and for people setting up new businesses
  • routine sampling of foods to monitor safety and standards
  • responding to complaints about food safety.
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Our aims

To protect consumers by:

  • working in partnership with local people and businesses;
  • ensuring that all food sold, imported, produced, stored, handled or distributed commercially within or from Haringey, is:
    • prepared in clean premises which are operated by properly trained staff
    • wholesome and lawful
    • safe to eat.

For all premises selling or manufacturing food and/or drink registration is required with the council's Food Safety Team.

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Food hygiene and standards inspections

Specialist Food Safety Officers inspect all food premises within the borough to ensure that businesses comply with strict Food Safety Standards:

Food hygiene inspection

The purpose of a food hygiene inspection is to ensure that food sold to the public is safe to consume. Additionally EHOs will visit many premises when following up complaints, and will visit any new premises that open in the borough.

EHOs will not only ensure that the structure, fittings and operators in food businesses do not contaminate foodstuffs, but will also assess the risks involved in storing, preparing and producing food.

Inspection intervals depend on the risk associated with the particular business, which in turn depends on the kind of business (eg. a restaurant poses a higher potential risk than a shop selling only packaged food) and the condition of the business itself, including how competent the operators are, as assessed by the inspector at every visit. Inspection intervals range from every six months (highest risk) to every five years (lowest risk).

Following inspections, satisfaction questionnaires are sent to inspected businesses. For a summary of the findings see the Consultation on Food Hygiene Inspection document in the attached files section below.

The most common reason for food poisoning occurring is food being prepared too far in advance and being left at room temperature for too long, allowing food poisoning bacteria to grow in the food. Where there is an imminent risk to the publics health, EHOs can immediately close food businesses until such times as they are considered safe, when they will allow them to reopen. For advice on the temperature at which food is handled and stored please see the attached files section below.

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Food standards inspection

The purpose of a food standards inspection is to ensure that the label on the food product accurately describes the food and its content. Environmental Health Officers often take food samples and have them chemically analysed to ensure that the composition of the food is as the label states.

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Investigation of food complaints

Despite the routine inspection of food businesses and the sampling of foods, there are occasions when things do go wrong and food becomes contaminated. Following a complaint of contaminated food an Officer of this Department will carry out an investigation to find the reason for and source of the contamination. Various parties, including retailers, wholesalers, producers, manufacturers and other Local Authorities may be contacted. For more information, please read the food poisoning page.

We investigate complaints and reports about:

  • unsatisfactory food, including national Food Alerts
  • unsatisfactory food premises
  • health and safety in food premises
  • accidents in food premises
  • food poisoning cases and incidents.
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Training Courses

We also provide the following food hygiene course:

  • Level 2 Award in Food Safety in Catering (Chartered Institute of Environmental Health - CIEH - Accredited)

Please visit our Level 2 Award in Food Safety in Catering page for more information To apply, please complete and return the food hygiene course application form in the attached files section below.

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Contact

Food Safety Team
Units 271-272
Lee Valley Technopark
Ashley Road
N17 9LN

Tel 020 8489 1000
Fax 020 8489 5133

Email enforcement@haringey.gov.uk

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Attached Files

The following links are not part of the Haringey Council website. Please read our legal disclaimer before using these links

Page Last Updated: 17 June 2013

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