The law requires anyone who operates a food business to put in place a food safety management system:
What is a Food Safety Management System?
It is a way to prove to Environmental Health Officers that you have procedures to identify, prevent and remove food safety hazards. It is based on cross-contamination, cleaning, chilling and cooking food.
How do I create a Food Safety Management System?
- You can create one yourself or get a consultant to create one.
- The Food Standards Agency has a system for small and medium sized businesses to use known as Safer Food Better Business (SFBB)
- Or you can attend formal training such as the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points Certificate (HACCP) run by the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health. More details can be found in Related Content.
Safer Food Better Business
Environmental Health encourages the use of the Safer Food Better Business (SFBB) system as it is free to use and is suitable for small catering businesses such as
Cafes
Delicatessens
Health Food Shops
Newsagents/sweet shops
Pubs
Restaurants
Small Convenience stores
Takeaways
Please see the link to the Food Standards Agency in related content for more advice or an application pack.
The Safer Food Better Business is not suitable for specialist food businesses like Butchers, Fishmongers or Bakers, if you have this type of food business, please contact the Environmental Health team using this form
Diary sheets for Safer Food Better Business packs
I need more diary sheets for my Safer Food Better Business pack where can I get them?
Rochford Council no longer has diary sheets, but you can get them from the Food Standards Agency, please see the link to the Safer Food Better Business Food Standards Agency in Related Content.