The law and you

Enforcement - are you complying with the law?
The Royal Borough's Enforcement Policy
Food Hygiene Inspections
Food Standards Inspections
Health and Safety for food businesses

Examples of:

Statutory inspections which resulted in prosecution or closure
Complaints from customers

Enforcement - are you complying with the law?

Working with food is a vitally important job, if you are a food business owner or food handler you have the potential to kill someone. As the owner and/or manager of a food business you must ensure that you and your staff comply with the provisions of Regulation (EC) 852/2004 of the European Parliament on the Hygiene of Foodstuffs, the Food Safety Act 1990, Food Hygiene (England) Regulations 2005. Visit www.food.gov.uk/foodindustry/hygiene/.

Food must be protected from potential contamination including dust, insects, rodents, dirty equipment, unnecessary handling, coughs and sneezes, flooding, drainage, and over head leakage or condensation at all times, including during storage, preparation, display, service and distribution.

If your business is in The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and you need advice contact the Directorate of Environmental Health..

Food Hygiene Inspections

We routinely inspect all registered food businesses in the Royal Borough. Those assessed as presenting the greater risk to public health are inspected more frequently.

We check that proprietors understand what is meant by good hygiene practice and Hazard Analysis. This involves proprietors identifying the food hazards common to their business and implementing controls to ensure they do not occur.

The inspection also includes:

ensuring that the food handling staff are trained in food hygiene and handling practices
inspecting the condition of the equipment and the premises
ensuring there are precautions to prevent pest infestation
ensuring that staff are aware of the importance of personal hygiene

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Food Standards Inspections

We check on the quality, composition, labelling, presentation and advertising of food and materials or articles in contact with food, for example food packaging.

Our aim is to protect the public from fraudulent or misleading claims. Information on food labels and advertising materials must be simple to understand. This includes information about allergies, dietary advice, genetically modified ingredients and vegetarian or organic claims.

See below for examples of recent enforcements and of customer complaints which have affected food businesses in the Royal Borough.

See Food Law inspections and your business.

Food and catering business safety

In addition to complying with food safety law and such like, owners and employees working in food premises and catering businesses will also have to comply with the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. See Health and Safety at Work.

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Examples of statutory inspections which resulted in prosecution or closure

These occurred throughout the Borough:

Health Food Shop - closed for three weeks due to mouse infestation
Café -closed for two weeks due to rodent infestation
Food Stall - cautioned vendor selling raw meat on top of cooked meat
Hamburger restaurant - night licence refused
Restaurant - closed voluntarily due to lack of cleaning
Restaurant - prosecuted due to contamination
Restaurant - mouldy chicken seized
Sandwich shop - closured for to selling contaminated sandwiches
Retail food shop - condemned cereal goods

Examples of food complaints from customers

Kensington - loaf of bread with disposable glove in it
Kensington - samosa with fabric plaster in it
Chelsea - salad containing locust
Chelsea - chicken contaminated with iron.
Kensington - knife blade in crab sandwich.