Foods that need to be chilled should be kept at 8 deg C (46 Deg F) or below. Foods that are being kept hot before serving should remain above 63 deg C (145 deg F). The temperature requirements in Scotland are slightly different to the rest of the UK. See the section on the Food Safety (Temperature Control) Regulations for details.

There are certain occasions when foods can be kept outside these temperatures for a Limited period for example to be served or displayed when food needs to be handled during or after processing and when equipment is being defrosted or temporarily breaks down.

Check fridges and refrigerated display units regularly to ensure they are working correctly and keeping food at the correct temperature. Ensure that staff report any faults as soon as possible and take prompt action to correct the problem.

For more information about temperature control consult an environmental health officer or see the Food Standards Agency Leaflet: Food safety regulations.

Personal Hygiene

Food can be contaminated very easily when it is handled. Therefore it is essential that you and your staff maintain good standards of personal hygiene at all times to ensure that food does not get contaminated with harmful germs dirt or ‘foreign bodies'.

You and your staff should wash and dry your hands regularly when handling food, in particular:

• Before starting work
• Before handling ready-to-eat food
• After touching raw food, especially raw meat or poultry
• After going to the toilet
• After a break

Staff working in food areas should:

• Wear clean clothes and an apron or protective garment
• Not touch their face or hair
• Cover cuts or sores with clean waterproof dressings
• Wash hands after blowing their nose
• Not cough or sneeze over food
• Not smoke
• Not wear jewelery or false nails, which might fall into food

Training & Supervision

By Law, food handlers must receive adequate supervision, instruction and/or training in food hygiene for the work they do. The owner of the food business is responsible for ensuring that this happens. You can seek advice about training from your Local environmental health officer

Staff Illness

Staff with symptoms of food poisoning, such as diarrhea, vomiting or stomach pains, must not handle food, because they could easily contaminate it and make others ill. An employee showing signs of this kind of illness must leave food preparation areas straight away.

Staff should also report any other type of illness or skin condition to a manager. If you are not sure whether you or someone else should be working with food, seek advice from an environmental health officer or doctor urgently. The booklet Food handlers: fitness to work, which is available from Food Standards Agency Publications, gives further information.

To make sure that food is safe you must follow good hygiene at every stage of food handling, from receiving deliveries of ingredients to serving the customer it is especially important to prevent cross-contamination and keep foods at the right temperature.

Ingredients

Choose reputable food suppliers, so you know that you are buying products that have been stored, processed or treated safely when food is delivered, check that:

• It is what you ordered
• Chilled and frozen food is at the correct temperature
• The packaging is undamaged and intact

If you have any concerns about the safety of the delivery do not accept it.

Storing Food

You must store food correctly to keep it safe. In particular, make sure you:

• Observe temperature control
• Keep raw food, especially meat, away from ready-to-eat food, ideally in separate fridges
• Store raw meat in salable containers at the bottom of the fridge, so it can't touch or drip onto ready-to-eat food
• Don't overload fridges because this will hinder the circulation of cool air and might mean the food is not kept cold enough
• Store dried foods (such as grains, pulses and vegetables) off the floor ideally in salable containers, to protect them from pests

Foods that you store should be labeled with a 'Use by' or 'Best before' date, and details of how they need to be stored (for example if they need chilling). Stock rotation, which makes sure that older food is used, first will help you to prevent food going off and avoid wastage.

Never use food after the 'Use by' date, since it might not be safe to eat. Check food with a short shelf Life every day to make sure it is still within the 'Use by' date. Follow any storage instructions on the product Label or packaging.

Food Preparation

Food can become contaminated very easily during preparation.

Food handlers should:

• Observe good personal hygiene
• Use different chopping boards/work surfaces for raw food and ready-to-eat food
• Use different equipment and utensils for raw and ready-to-eat food, wherever possible
• Clean equipment and surfaces thoroughly before and after use
• Avoid unnecessary handling of food - use clean tongs, plates or trays instead
• Keep chilled food out of the fridge for the shortest time possible during preparation
• Use drinking water to wash and prepare food, or make ice

Remember it is very important to wash fresh fruit, vegetables and salad vegetables, such as Lettuce, if they are being served raw.

Proper cooking kills food poisoning bacteria such as salmonella, Campylobacter, Ecoli 0157 and Listeria.
It is important to cook food thoroughly, especially meat. When you cook poultry minced/chopped meat (for example burgers and sausages) and rolled joints, you should make sure that the center of the meat reaches a temperature of at least 70 deg C for two minutes, or an equivalent time/temperature combination.

You do not need to follow the minimum cooking times when you are cooking whole cuts or joints of meat traditionally served pink or rare at the customer's request such as beef or Lamb. This also applies to whole cuts or joints of pork. If the meat is pierced (for example with skewers) or on the bone, you should follow the minimum cooking times.

When reheating food, especially meat make sure it is piping hot all the way through and do not reheat it more than once.

If you use a probe thermometer to check the temperature of food, be careful that it does not cause contamination. Probes should be kept clean and disinfected. Ideally use different probes for checking the temperature of ready-to-eat foods and foods being cooked from raw. If this is not possible, clean and disinfect probes between uses. Ensure that probes are set (calibrated) and working correctly and that staff know how to use them properly.

Food should be cooled as quickly as possible after cooking (unless it is being kept hot until serving). You can speed up the cooling process by dividing food into smaller amounts and placing it in shallow dishes. Do not put foods in the fridge when they are still hot because this could warm up other foods.

Service & Display

The main risks during service or display of food are:

• Inadequate temperature control
• Cross-contamination

When you are serving or displaying foods, you can keep them out of temperature control for a Limited period on one occasion only
Hot foods can be kept below 63 deg C (145 deg F) for a maximum of two hours. Chilled foods can be kept above 8 deg C (46 deg F) for a maximum of four hours.

You must not exceed these times. After food has been out of temperature control for one period it must be either thrown away or cooled as quickly as possible and then chilled until final use. It is advisable to keep foods such as cooked meats and dairy products in refrigerated display units at all times.

The temperature requirements in Scotland are slightly different to the rest of the UK. See the section on the Food Safety (Temperature Control) Regulations for details.

You can minimise the risk of cross-contamination by:

• Separating raw and ready-to-eat foods on display
• Providing separate utensils for raw and ready-to-eat foods

Transporting Food

When you are transporting food, you must prevent it from becoming contaminated. It is especially important to make sure that:

• Food is transported in packaging or containers that
• Protect it from contamination
• Chilled foods are kept at the right temperature
• Raw foods and ready-to-eat foods are kept apart

Vehicles used to transport food must be kept clean and in good repair. Where necessary they should be designed to allow effective disinfections.

When a container or vehicle is used to transport different foods, or both food and non-food products at the same time, the products should be separated to protect against contamination.

When different products are transported, in different loads, in the same container or vehicle, the container should be cleaned effectively between Loads to avoid contamination.

However big or small your business is, the place where you work must be kept clean and be well maintained to help ensure good hygiene.

Premises should be designed in a way that allows you to keep the place clean and work hygienically. It is also important to keep out pests, such as flies and rats, so make sure that doors and external windows do this, for example by fitting screens.

You must make sure that your premises and all equipment and surfaces that come into contact with food are kept clean and, where necessary disinfected. Using a cleaning schedule is a good way to ensure appropriate cleaning.

While you are working, it is a good idea to clean as you go, mopping up any spills as they happen and cleaning work surfaces, equipment and floors frequently so that waste and dirt do not build up.

Remember to keep cleaning equipment, such as mops and cloths, clean.

Careful storage of waste is important to avoid attracting pests, such as flies and rats. You should:

• Not allow food or other waste to build up in food areas
• Keep the storage area clean
• Arrange for rubbish to be removed frequently

Staff Facilities

It is especially important to make sure that suitable facilities are provided for staff to wash their hands.
There should be a basin for washing hands in food areas. You will also need a sink to use for cleaning premises, equipment utensils, etc. If unwrapped food is handled as part of your business, you must have a separate sink just for washing food. Washbasins must have hot and cold running water and you should provide soap and suitable equipment for drying hands, such as disposable towels or hot-air dryers.

When staff have used the toilet, they should not wash their hands in the same basin that is used for washing hands during food preparation, or in the sinks used for washing food or for cleaning. Otherwise, they could bring germs into the food area.

Mobile/Temporary Premises

People running mobile or temporary premises, such as stalls or burger vans, need to be aware of the same hygiene issues as other food businesses. Because space is Limited, the requirements are slightly different. Consult your Local environmental health officer for information.

You must make sure that:

• There are adequate facilities to prepare and serve food safely
• You can keep food at safe temperatures and protect it from contamination
• There is access to adequate washing facilities

Owners and managers of food businesses are responsible for ensuring that their businesses comply with food safety Law.

There are four key Laws that food businesses in Great Britain must be aware of:

• Food Safety Act 1990
• Food Premises (Registration) Regulations 1991
• Food Safety (General Food Hygiene) Regulations 1995
• Food Safety (Temperature Control) Regulations 1995

Similar Laws apply in Northern Ireland.

This page provides information on the main areas covered by these Laws. See the Food Standards Agency Leaflet, Food safety regulations, for more details about the general hygiene and temperature control regulations.

Some food businesses, mainly manufacturers, will need to follow product-specific regulations. For more information, contact your local environmental health officer, who will be able to offer advice.

Under the Food Safety Act 1990, you:

• Must not sell (or keep for sale) food that is 'unfit' for people to eat
• Must not cause food to be dangerous to health
• Must not sell food that is not what the customer is entitled to expect in terms of content or quality
• Must not describe or present food in a way that is false or misleading

It is important to be able to demonstrate the positive steps taken by your business to ensure good food hygiene. If you were prosecuted under the Food Safety Act you would need to convince the court that you had taken all reasonable steps to avoid the offence you had been accused of (this is called a 'due diligence defence').

If you are planning to start a new food business, you need to register with your local environmental health department 28 days before opening. If you change the activity at your food premises, you must tell your local environmental health department within 28 days of the change.

These Regulations set out the basic hygiene requirements that food businesses must follow in relation to staff premises and food handling.

Under the Regulations, you must have effective food safety management measures (or 'controls') in place, to ensure that food is produced safely and that the health of your customers is not put at risk

Food safety management is all about identifying how and when things could go wrong and introducing checks to stop that happening. Think about the daily work of your business and how you follow the principles of good hygiene.

Food safety management controls do not need to be complex, particularly if you have a small business, but you must make sure that they are in place and routinely checked.

These Regulations cover the following issues:

• The stages of the food chain that are subject to temperature control
• The temperatures at which certain foods must be kept
• Which foods are exempt from specific temperature controls
• When the temperature controls allow flexibility

Good temperature control is fundamental to food safety in many food businesses.

In Scotland the Regulations apply slightly differently. A maximum temperature for chilling foods is not specified, but businesses are still required to chill foods if they need to be chilled to keep them safe. Maximum times for keeping foods out of temperature control for service or display are not specified.
And when reheated, foods must reach a minimum temperature of 82 deg C (180 deg F).

Enforcement

Environmental health officers will inspect your premises to make sure you are following food hygiene rules. They will offer help and advice on food safety and can take action if they find that your standards of food hygiene are not satisfactory. In serious cases, action might include closing the premises and/or prosecution.

The Food Standards Agency booklet, Food law inspections and your business, explains the inspection process and your rights of appeal if you are unhappy with the way the inspection is carried out.

Environmental Health Officers

You can get contact details for your local environmental health department by contacting your local authority (or district council in Northern Ireland). The Food Standards Agency website contains a database of environmental health departments in England, Wales and Scotland.

Disclaimer

The information contained in this page is intended as guidance and is not a complete statement of the law, Individual food Businesses are responsible for checking how the legislation mentioned applies to them in practice.