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Posted By Steve Collinson
Hi All
I'm looking for some advice on food hygiene requirements. I work for a 3rd sector organisation providing support to people with mental health issues. We have a small number of services (geographically separate) where our staff assist clients in the preparation of their meals.
Can anyone advise on what I should be looking at regarding compliance with Food Hygiene requirements? Members of staff at the services in question have the Basic Food Hygiene Cert, and none of the food is either for sale or for consumption by the general public.
Thanks.
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Posted By Charlie0538
Hi Steve,
The best place for any type of advice for food standards etc has to be the food standards agency and in particular the following document.
http://www.foodstandards...urces/sfbb/sfbbcaterers/
Although it ids for caterers, it still gives good advice and guidance on basic Health and Hygeine, prep areas etc.
Thanks
Charlie
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Posted By stephen d clarke
Hi,
As above, also might be worth purchasing a good text I've found "Hygiene for Management" by Richard A. Sprenger very informative, see also:
http://www.highfield.co.uk/
Steve
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Posted By MarcusB
Hi Steve,
Your local Environmental Health department may be able to offer you some free advice.
In addition you may want to think about getting a Safer Food Better Business (SFBB)pack which will help you comply with food hygiene requirements.
If you would like to order an SFBB you can get one from: Food Standards Agency Publications on 0845 606 0667 or email foodstandards@ecgroup.co.uk.
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Posted By Eddie
Steve,
If the food is for the consuption of the clients in their own homes/flat/accommodation etc then it will be exempt from food safety legislation.
However it may be prudent to ensure that your staff are suitably trained and competent if they are giving advice that would inclde food safety issues - safe storage, minimum core temperatures, cross contamination etc.
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Posted By TT
As an ex-food safety inspector I'm more than willing to help you with an answer but I'm not sure I fully understand the situation.
Are your staff going into client's own homes and helping them prepare their own meal....with ingredients bought by the client? If so, then I don't believe that the vast majority of food safety legislation will apply as stated in a previous post.
I'll press on with advice on that basis!
For the purposes of best practice you should consider what might go wrong from a risk assessment point of view. Why do these individuals need help and could the actions of your staff lead to them becoming ill or injured? The Level 2/Foundation/Basic (the name changes so often!) course is great for your purposes but maybe you want to consider some written procedures/policies too. The SFBB pack alluded to above is free from your local Environmental Health department but will not be well suited to the arrangements that you appear to have. You may wish to pick, choose and edit some elements of it.
In all honesty, even though you may not fall under the jurisdiction of the Local Authority for Food Safety, they will still likely be more than willing to help you with any specific advice or guidance.
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Posted By Steve Collinson
Hi
Many thanks to all for your responses.
To clarify the nature of the services - some services (supported housing) assist clients to prepare and cook their own food to consume in their own rooms. Other services (day centres) support the clients to make meals that they will consume on the premises.
I'm aware of the SFBB guidance provided by the FSA and we do use this in a few services we manage which are public cafes. The areas I was unsure of were as outlined in the above paragraph - SFBB seems overkill for them.
It looks as though a phone call to the LA might prove useful.
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Posted By A Campbell
Steve,
I think you will get better clarification from your LA...
In sheltered accommodation you will more than likely class them as their own dwelling.... just as in a landlord position.
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Posted By TT
With the day centres, they may need to be registered as a food premises and therefore be subject to inspection and all the various controls that come with that.
The reason being that, whilst the food is not for the public, it still may fall under the definition of sale under the Food Safety Act 1990 which is remarkably broad.
I inspected many a day care centre and/or community kitchen in my day. Don't get too worried about it though and remember that you can only be expected to control the risks that are within your own control.
You're quite right that SFBB is likely overkill as there is no regular catering/cooking. However the Regs still require a documented food safety management system - I don't imagine the LA would expect a great deal...supervision arrangements, possibly a means of temperature monitoring although (depending on amount/type of food cooked there are others ways of ensuring safe food), training, cleaning arrangements, pest control. Take your cue from SFBB but cut it down and make it more appropriate.
It could be as small or as large as you want to make it.
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Posted By jervis
Nowt to do with question thought for a mo you where my bro as his name is steve collinson.
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Posted By Phil Rose
I would speak to your LA food safety team - I am sure they will be in the best position to help and advise
Phil
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