It is very important when starting a new food business to be in compliance with all relevant food safety laws. The main purpose of food law is to ensure a safe food supply. In addition, its purpose is to protect consumers’ interests in relation to food. When a business starts handling food they are regarded as a ‘food business operator’. It is a legal responsibility to make sure that the business complies with food law and produces safe food.
The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) is responsible for enforcing food legislation in Ireland. The FSAI carries out this enforcement through service contracts with official agencies.
Official agencies (such as HSE) carry out inspections, take samples and conduct audits of the food businesses they supervise. This is to check that the food businesses are complying with the law. They will also take enforcement action if they discover a food business has broken the law. Enforcement officers from the official agencies are also a good source of food safety information.
At the initial stages of starting a food business, it is important to contact the official agency appropriate to the nature of the business. This is so the food business can be registered and, if necessary, apply for an approval number.
To operate legally a food business:
A wide range of food is available in Ireland today. Whether that food is produced by a large multi-national company or a small local food producer, it must be safe for consumers to eat.
The main responsibilities of a food business are:
To summarise, the food for human consumption should be protected from contamination. In addition, it should be fresh and of good quality with accurate and correct labelling. Everyone deserves to be protected against food that might make them ill and that is exactly what the law aims to do. By operating an effective Food Safety Management System, businesses can abide by the law more easily. The Food Safety Management System does not mean ‘additional’ work. It means aiming to do things in the right way, every day. Good procedures will go a long way towards ensuring success.
The food business ensures compliance with food law by operating a Food Safety Management System. The system must be based on HACCP (Hazards Analysis Critical Control Point) principles.
By law, a food business must be able to show what procedures are followed to ensure that the food it makes or sells is safe to eat. These procedures must be written down. Everyone who handles food must be trained and qualified in safe food handling practices. The up-to-date records of all training and refresher training should be kept on records. All food handlers must receive appropriate instruction in the essentials of food hygiene before they are allowed to start work.
When it comes to food, it is important to consider accountability and traceability. A food business must be able to show where food stuff came from and where it goes to. This is important if the business sells to a retailer, but not if it sells to a customer. There has to be a clear path to indicate ‘who did what’ when food handling is in question.
Operating an effective Food Safety Management System means that food business practices are routinely checked and recorded. This will enable the business to comply with legal requirements. It will also help compile a ‘due diligence’ defence, should one be needed.
For useful information about starting a new food business in Ireland, please refer to FSAI Resources Booklet for Small Food Businesses. In addition, the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) provides beneficial content for new businesses and those already running businesses. They often organise and moderate webinars aimed at those wishing to start a new food business. More information is available on the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) website.
Please remember – it is a legal requirement that staff who are involved in a food environment are trained and/or supervised commensurate with their work activity!
Myelearnsafety offers fully online Food Safety (HACCP) courses.
To find out more, please check our Courses page.
Alternatively, should you need any additional information, please do not hesitate to let us know via email info@elearn.ie
Hand washing is one of the most important hygiene requirements expected of the employees working in the food handling industries. The food business operator must ensure that all employed staff are trained in good hygiene practices and that they behave in a manner that will not contaminate food.
The human body is an excellent home for bacteria. Humans carry a number of potential food poisoning bacteria on and in our body. It is very important that food handlers have a very high standard of personal hygiene to prevent contamination.
Bacteria on the hands have an ideal environment for growth and spreading. They have food, moisture and an ideal temperature of around 37°C; all ideal factors for bacterial growth. The role of hands in transferring pathogens to high-risk food is one of major causes of outbreaks’ of food poisoning not only in Ireland, but worldwide. The Health Protection Surveillance Centre publication ‘Preventing Foodborne Disease: A Focus on the Infected Food Handler’ provides a very insightfully report on preventing foodborne diseases with a focus on the infected food handler.
Hand washing is a crucial step in preventing food contamination by food handlers. By using proper hand washing techniques and as often as possible, harmful bacteria present on the hands of food workers are removed. Some examples of harmful bacteria are E. coli, Salmonella and Staphylococcus aureus and viruses (e.g. norovirus) .
All food handling staff must wash their hands including forearms when exposed with a non-perfumed soap and:
Hands should be followed as follows:
The hands should be washed using designated hand wash basins only. After washing the hands must be dried using disposable paper towels. Towels are never to be shared! Alcohol and disinfectants are only effective if used on clean hands. They are not meant to be used as a method of hand disinfection – unless hands have been thoroughly washed prior using disinfectant. Taps should be turned off with either elbow or whilst holding a paper towel.
This short instructional video prepared by SafeFood demonstrates how to wash hands properly: How to wash your hands properly.
The use of disposable gloves is not a substitution for hand washing. In fact, gloves are a potential cause of food contamination as they can provide the ideal environment for multiplication of micro-organisms. Disposable gloves should only be worn for short periods and hands must be washed before and after use.
If gloves are however used regularly, a glove policy should be provided and all employees must be trained on how and when to put gloves on and how they should be used to prevent contamination. Clear instructions regarding the changing and disposal of damaged and contaminated gloves is a must.
Please remember – it is a legal requirement that staff who are involved in a food environment are trained and/or supervised commensurate with their work activity!
Myelearnsafety offers fully online Food Safety (HACCP) courses.
To find out more, please check our Courses page.
Alternatively, should you need any additional information, please do not hesitate to let us know via email info@elearn.ie
A Food Safety Management System is a planned and methodical approach to controlling food safety hazards within a food business. The main purpose of FSMS is to ensure the food produced/served is safe to eat. All food businesses are legally obliged to put in place, implement and maintain FSMS based on the principles of Hazards Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP).
The Food Safety Management System must be:
To better understand FSMS procedures it is important to clarify what the terms hazard, risk and control measures mean from the food safety perspective.
Hazard is anything with the potential to cause harm. Food safety hazards can be:
Risk measures the likelihood that a hazard will actually cause harm together with how serious the problem could be.
An undercooked chicken being served at a large wedding party is likely to make a lot of people very ill with Salmonella food poisoning and is clearly a ‘high-risk’. On the other hand, finding a slug in a bag of ready washed salad, though undesirable, is quite unlikely and most likely will not cause any real and serious harm. As such, this could be considered as ‘low-risk’.
Control measures are precautions that are taken to reduce the chance of a hazard occurring (to an acceptable level of risk). These measures could include making sure food is stored at the right temperature in a refrigerator, covering food to prevent physical and microbial contamination or training stuff on how to clean and disinfect a work surface. It is a legal requirement that staff who are involved in a food environment are trained and/or supervised commensurate with their work activity. Myelearnsafety.com, an online health and safety training platform, developed and run by experienced Health and Safety professionals offers convenient and affordable full online food safety courses.
Critical Control Point (CCP) is a step at which control can be applied and is necessary to prevent or eliminate a food safety hazard or to reduce it to an acceptable level.
Following a FSMS will give confidence of compliance to the management and can help to reduce food waste. The food regulations put an obligation on all food businesses to identify any steps in their activities that are crucial to food safety.
Some of the advantages of adopting a food safety management system are that it will:
Everyone in the food business needs to know about the FSMA that is in place. This will help to assist all staff in realising their role and responsibilities in limiting risks to the consumers from food related hazards.
HACCP is the internationally recognised food safety system that was developed by NASA in the 1960s. It is developed to ensure safe food for space flights and to prevent food poisoning of astronauts in space. Since then HACCP developed and improved based on available food scientific data and has been recognised internationally as a convenient tool to manage food safety. This system is well proven in making all aspects of food production safer and is designed to make sure food businesses can identify and deal with the hazards and risks involved in the production and handling of food.
Specifically, HACCP looks at how food is handled and introduces procedures to make sure the food produced is safe to eat. HACCP plans must be kept up-to-fate and will require reviewing on a regular basis and whenever something in the food operation changes.
HACCP is a systematic approach to the identification, evaluation, and control of food safety hazards. HACCP principles have seven steps that must be followed at all times:
The success of a HACCP system depends on educating and training management and employees in the importance of their role in producing safe foods.
Other HACCP Based Food Safety Management Systems
The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) has developed the Safe Catering Pack. The Safe Catering Pack is designed for caterers as a practical, easy-to-use, food safety management system. The pack was designed for caterers but it may also be used by other food businesses. It is ideal for businesses that have not yet developed their own food safety management system, but may also be used by businesses to improve existing systems.
Please remember – it is a legal requirement that staff who are involved in a food environment are trained and/or supervised commensurate with their work activity!
Myelearnsafety offers fully online Food Safety (HACCP) courses.
To find out more, please check our Courses page.
Alternatively, should you need any additional information, please do not hesitate to let us know via email info@elearn.ie
Proper food storage and deliveries play an important role in ensuring that the food remains safe to eat. Existing food businesses which intend to start delivering food orders need to consider any new or different risks posed by this change in operation. They should adapt their Food Safety Management System to make sure food placed on the market remains safe to eat. Businesses that already deliver food, directly to the customer or to another business, must ensure uninterrupted safe food handling practices.
It is important that food is purchased from reliable suppliers. ‘Due diligence‘ demands that care be taken on purchase handover. When food is delivered, a person responsible for the receipt of the food should check:
Always and without any doubt reject any food that you are not happy with and return it to the supplier! Always make sure that the transfer time after purchase of frozen or chilled foods is as short as possible, preferably in cool bags or boxes and that the food is stored in the refrigerator or freezer in the shortest possible time. Remember:
Food is spoiled when it is unfit for human consumption. The main causes of food spoilage are usually the following:
Most food packages are labelled with a ‘Use By‘ or ‘Best Before‘ date. It is an offence to serve food that has exceeded its use by date. Such food should be discarded or clearly marked ‘Unfit for Human Consumption‘. ‘Best Before‘ dates are often an indication that the food will be at its premium quality if stored correctly until that date.
Not all food must be kept refrigerated or heated. Some food can be kept in dry stores. However, many dried or dehydrated foods such as milk powder, powdered eggs, etc. will allow bacterial growth if they become moist. It is therefore essential these foods are stored in a dry place and are used immediately after preparation. All dry foods, including flour, biscuits, etc., will remain safe whilst dry.
Dry stores key points:
All food should be stored in date order and the First In First Out (FIFO) rule followed and observed. To help with stock rotation:
There are other food safety hazard points associated with food delivery and storage. Safefood lists a number of additional hazards that are associated with the food storage and deliveries. These can be read in their Food Delivery & Storage article.
Please remember – it is a legal requirement that staff who are involved in a food environment are trained and/or supervised commensurate with their work activity!
Myelearnsafety offers fully online Food Safety (HACCP) courses.
To find out more, please check our Courses page.
Alternatively, should you need any additional information, please do not hesitate to let us know via email info@elearn.ie
