Food Safety Management Systems
Risk assessments are a legal requirement for all food businesses. The local authority requires a risk assessment to be carried out prior to registration of a food business.
A risk assessment asks you to think logically about what might go wrong with the food that you sell and what you must do to ensure it is safe for your customers.
A food business should be able to show how hazards are being controlled to reduce the risks.There are 3 categories of food hazard;
- Microbiological - harmful bacteria present in food;
- Chemical - cleaning chemicals getting into food;
- Physical - foreign bodies e.g. glass, insects in food;
To show they are controlling hazards food businesses need to have a system in place where they;
- Assess possible food hazards throughout their operations;
- Highlight areas that are critical to food safety e.g. cooking food to the right temperatures to kill bacteria;
- Introduce controls at critical points
These controls should be;
- Monitored;
- Maintained;
- Reviewed regularly and whenever food operations change e.g. new recipe.
These principles are the basis for the more formal Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points system used by large food businesses.The nature and size of food businesses will determine how detailed the risk assessment needs to be, and it is probable that hazards have already been identified and controlled with written systems to support the controls.If you have responsibility for food safety management and want to discuss your food safety risk assessment with one of our officers please contact us.
The following links will take you to the appropriate Food Standards Agency web page where you can download the food safety management pack. There are other useful links to be found that could help your business:-
Last updated: Mon 6th February, 2012 @ 09:56
