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Posted By Roger Bragg
In our office building (approx. 50 employees) we see an increasing need to cater in-house for large meetings and also for outside guests. This involves regular food preparation for 20+ people.
What minimum standards (including PPE) should apply in our (small) kitchen?
Is there a requirement for the company to resource a dishwasher based on numbers catered for?
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Posted By J Knight
Hi Roger,
Food Standards Act and associated regs will apply as its a commercial kitchen (even if it is small). PPE should be determined by risk assessment (yes, I know, people hate that idea), but to give some guidance we provide what you might call food prep PPE, but not safety shoes, don't forget long oven gloves,
John
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Posted By Amanda
Roger
Are you proposing to prepare food for meetings and external guests? If so you will need to register with the Local EHO for food preparation.
The people involved with preparing the food will need to be trained to a level commensurate with their duties, ie basic food hygiene, Intermediate food hygiene/advanced for the supervisor/manager etc You will also need to a HACCP (hazard analysis critical control point) identifying how you will keep the food safe. Cleaning is an essential part of this.
After you have dealt with the food related regulations you need to consider the Health and Safety regulations ie Risk Assessment, Fire etc etc.
I suggest you take further advice (Local EHO are very helpful) and then pass this on to your management. It may be that in the long run having a nominated supplier for the food (external caterers)is the best option for you.
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Posted By MT
Amanda's advice is spot on. You must contact your local authority and register as a food business. Any business preparing food to be served to people must be registered and inspected. As a minimum the persons preparing the food should attend an elementary food hygiene course.
There is no legal requirement to provide a dishwasher, but if you have staff doing dishes by hand, remember that you must assess this task taking into account occupational dermatitis risk, provision of PPE etc.
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Posted By Bill Elliott
AND sufficient room; sufficient appropriate separate storage; refrigeration; freezers; protective clothing (laundering); cleaning materials (COSHH); ventilation & extraction; wash hand basins; appropriate wall surfaces, appropriate floor surfaces; worksurfaces; lighting; pest control; and so on. Best talk to your EHO. Regards
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Posted By Hayley McBride
Roger
Perhaps you should consider having some employees gain their basic food hygiene. These courses are provided by your local environmental health department and also private companies.
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Posted By Merv Newman
Get the caterers in and don't ever serve anything hot. Or that should have been hot. Or that needs reheating.
A number of meetings I go to have lunch trays delivered with cold meats and salad and healthy bottled water. All done and dumped within about 30 minutes and back to work.
Or we will spend 2 to 3 hours at a restaurant. And then back to work. Sort of.
Run a cost analysis. You can get different levels of quality and service.
Merv
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Posted By Ian P
When you factor in time spent getting supplies, preparation, cooking, presentation etc. on top of the cost of ingredients I doubt if it would be all that much more expensive to get in outside catering. As Merv says the standard of food available is much higher than the old cheese sannys that were usually curled by the time it came to eat them. My lot has a lot of meetings and wouldn't dream of preparing the food themselves. Less risk assessment for me as well.
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