Thinking Food Safety

• You must have access to an adequate number of flush lavatories.
• Toilets must not open directly into a food room.
• You must have a hand wash basin designated for such use.
• Hand soap, hot water and a means of drying hands are required.
• Both WC and kitchen must have adequate ventillation (mechanical or natural).
• Lighting must be sufficient.
• Adequate drainage and means to dispose waste, including oil, safetly.
• A seperate area must be available for staff to keep outdoor clothing.
• Cleaning chemicals must be stored seperate to food.

Room where food is prepared, treated or processed

• Floors and walls must be of impervious material and therefore easy to clean. They must also be kept in good condition.
• Ceilings must be constructed and finished to prevent dirt and mould from building up and the shredding of particles.
• Windows and doors must be well fitted, easy to clean and where necessary fitted with insect screens.
• Surfaces (including equipment) must be maintained in a sound condition and easy to clean and disinfect. This means they must be made of materials that are non absorbant, smooth, and washable.
• You must have seperate adequate facilities, where necessary, for washing food and equipment.
• Vehicles and/or containers used to transport foods must be kept clean and maintained in good repair and condition.
• Equipment must be constructed of appropriate materials as to minimise the risk of contamination and allow effective cleaning and disinfecting, including the surrounding area.
• Food waste must be kept in lidded containers and removed from food rooms as quickly as possible. All waste must be disposed of according to EC legislation.
• The water supply must be of potable (drinking water) quality.

Personal hygiene

• People working with food must maintain a high level of personal hygiene, wear suitable protective clothing and tell their employer if suffering from illness or symptoms of food poisoning.
• Anyone suffering from diarrhoea, whom has infected wounds, skin infection or sores or are suffering from or carrying a disease likely to be transmitted through food must not handle food or enter a food handling area.

• You must have adequate, written, food safety procedures in place to control the levels of bacteria in food.
• You must not accept raw materials or ingredients if known or reasonably expected to be unfit.
• You must store food as to protect it from contamination.
• At all stages of production, processing and distribution you must protect food from contamination.
• You must have adequate procedures to control pests and pets (where applicable) contaminating food.
• Unfit food must be appropriately labelled and stored.
• Any wrapping or packing of food must not be a source of contamination.

Temperature control

• You must not keep foods at a temperature that might cause a risk to health.
• Cold food must be kept at 8 degrees c or below.
• Hot food must be kept hot at 63 degrees c or above.
• When serving or displaying food it may (if necessary) be kept out of temperature control for a single limited time of 4 hours for cold food and two hours for hot food.
• Defrosting must be undertaken in a way that minimises the risk of harmful bacteria growing.

Training

• Staff must be adequately supervised, instrcuted and / or trained in food safety appropriate to their duties.
• The person or peole responsible for developing or maintaining the food safety management system must be adequately trained to do this.

Movable and temporary premises

• Different requirements apply to premises such as market stalls, mobile vans vending machines and food made in peoples homes.