Food Safety & HACCP Compliance
Food Safety Law
The Food Safety (general Food Hygiene) Regulations came into
force on 15th September 1995. They aim to ensure common food hygiene
rules across the European Community, as set
out in the Food Hygiene Directive 93/43/EEC.
The Regulations apply to all types of food and drink and their
ingredients. Some businesses, generally manufacturers of products
of animal origin, such as dairies or wholesale fish markets, are
subject to their own product specific regulations.
The Regulations require all food business proprietors to identify
and control food safety hazards
Food Safety – Temperature Control
Inadequate food temperature control is one of the most common
causes of food borne illness and food spoilage. Controls include
time and temperature of cooking, processing and storage. Systems
should be in place to ensure that temperature is controlled effectively
where it is critical to the safety and suitability of the food.
Depending on the nature of the food operations undertaken, adequate
facilities should be available for heating, cooling, cooking,
refrigerating and freezing food, for storing refrigerated or frozen
foods, monitoring food temperatures and, when necessary, controlling
ambient temperatures to ensure the safety and suitability of food.
Equipment used to cook, heat treat, cool, store or freeze food
should be designed to achieve the required temperatures as rapidly
as necessary in the interests of food safety and suitability,
and maintain them effectively. Equipment should also be designed
to allow temperatures to be monitored and controlled.
The Food Safety (Temperature Control) Regulations 1995
These provisions replace the previous two-tier chill temperature
control system in England and Wales with a single control temperature
8oC. They also replace the prescribed list of foods requiring
temperature control in previous Regulations with a more general
requirement covering any food likely to support the growth of
harmful bacteria. The Regulations also allow some flexibility
consistent with Food Safety to take into account practical handling
issues.
2. Who is affected?
The Regulations apply to all types of catering and retail food
businesses, whether the food is sold publicly or privately for
profit or for fund raising. The Regulations do not apply to food
cooked at home for private consumption.
3. The basic temperature requirement
The Regulations state that foods which need temperature control
for safety must be held either:
Hot - at a temperature at or above a minimum temperature
of 63°C
Chilled - at or below a maximum temperature of 8°C
4. Foods which need temperature control
Whilst the Regulations do not list specific foods they are likely
to fall into a number of categories:
a. Dairy products such as soft or semi-hard cheeses, dairy based
desserts, or products
containing whipped cream.
b. Cooked products such as food containing eggs, meat, fish, milk,
cereals, pulses and vegetables.
c. Smoked or cured ready-to-eat meat or fish - unless the curing
method leaves the product shelf stable at ambient temperatures.
d. Uncooked protein foods such as meat, fish and eggs.
e. Prepared ready to eat foods such as prepared vegetables, vegetable
salads or prepared products containing mayonnaise.
f. Uncooked or partly cooked pastry and dough products.
5. The General requirement
The Regulations contain a general requirement prohibiting the
keeping of any raw materials, ingredients, intermediate products
and finished products likely to support the growth of harmful
bacteria or the formation of toxins, at temperatures which would
result in a risk to health.
In most circumstances maintaining food temperatures at 8°C
or below or at 63°C or above will satisfy this requirement.
However there may be situations where it is appropriate to keep
foods at chill temperatures lower than 8°C such as certain
cook-chill foods or sous-vide products.
6. Foods which are exempt from temperature control
In specific circumstances some types of food are exempt from
temperature control. These include:
a. foods which can be kept at ambient temperature throughout their
shelf life e.g. some cured or smoked products or certain bakery
products which were to be sold quickly.
b. canned, dehydrated or other preserved foods.
c. food which must be ripened or matured at ambient temperature.
Once fully ripened or matured the food must be stored and/or displayed
at or below 8°C.
d. raw food intended for further processing (including cooking)
which will ensure the food is fit for human consumption.
e. mail order food-although exempt from the 8°C control mail
order foods must be supplied at temperatures which will not present
a health risk.
7. Service or display
Food to be served cold and which would normally require holding
at 8°C or below may be displayed above 8°C for a maximum
period of 4 hours. Only one tolerance period of service or display
is allowed. After this remaining food stuffs should be either
replaced under chill control until final use, or discarded.
Food to be served hot may be kept for service or display out
of temperature control (63°C or above) for a period of 2 hours.
After this time the food should either be discarded or cooled
as quickly as possible to 8°C or below until final use.
8. Handling and unloading
Consistent with food safety, limited periods outside chill control
are allowed where:
• food is being loaded or unloaded from a refrigerated
vehicle
• there are unavoidable circumstances e.g. when food has
to be handled during and after processing or if equipment temporarily
breaks down
Food Safety Act
The safety of our food is vital to each and every consumer. It
is also vital to each and every producer, processor, manufacturer
and retailer. Consumers must have confidence that the food they
buy and eat will be what they expect and will do them no harm.
The primary legislation on the safety of food is the Food Safety
Act 1990. The structure of the Act provides a flexible framework
for our food law, instead of going into great detail on matters
such as the chemical or microbiological safety of food, food quality
or food labeling and advertising, it concentrates on the fundamentals
and leaves the detail to subsidiary regulations.
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