Inspection of Food Businesses

All food businesses operating within the Wealden area will need to be registered as a food business and comply with the current Food Hygiene legislation. Registration is easy and free of charge.

Businesses are subject to regular, food safety inspections which are carried out by the council's food safety team. We follow the Code of Practice and Guidance issued by the Food Standards Agency.

Purpose of inspections
Inspection procedure
After the inspection
Revisits
Inspection Frequencies

The purpose of food premises inspections:

The inspection has three main aims:

to offer advice about good food hygiene practices
to identify and prevent risks to public health
to investigate possible breaches of food hygiene legislation and to take such action as may be necessary to get the business legally compliant

Inspection procedure

Officers have a right to enter and inspect a food business, including mobile units, at all reasonable hours, they do not need to make an appointment and usually come without an appointment.

They have the power to inspect a premises, inspect food, examine records (including computerised records), they can seize food, take samples and take photographs to be used as evidence.

Where appropriate officers will want to see and discuss the business’ Food Safety Management System and the records to support its operation eg suppliers, temperatures of stored products and cooking temperatures if cooking takes place. Also records of cleaning schedules, stock control, staff training will need to be available as part of their documentation to support their system.

Staff may be asked about operations they perform at work. All areas associated with the business may be checked including storage areas and preparation areas. Cleanliness and repair standards of the premises, facilities and equipment will be assessed. Evidence of pest control and correct refuse disposal may also be examined.

After the inspection

The officer will discuss their findings with the person in charge after the inspection. A report of the visit will then be given to the food business operator. The report will specify those statutory requirements that are not being complied with and what action must be taken to comply with the law. In addition, recommedations and advice on good practice may be included but will clearly seperated from legal requirements.For more information on what you can expect from our officers please view our dedicated page.

Where practices or conditions are not satisfactory, every attempt will be made to resolve the situation by informal means, but where poor conditions persist, or where there is a risk to public health it may be necessary to take a more formal route which could result in the service of formal notices requiring improvements or prohibiting certain activities.

The need for prosecution is rare and only used when warranted, as Wealden Council has a staged approach to enforcement and has signed up to the enforcement Concordat.

Revisits

In some cases a revisit or several revisits are necessary to ensure progress on remedial works. These are not inspections and generally take much less time.

Inspection frequency

The frequency of inspections of food premises is based upon an assessment of risk. Some food premises and businesses will present a higher risk to the consumer than others. This is dependent upon a number of factors such as the type of food business, the nature of the food, the degree of handling and the size of the business and of course how well the business is run. Those premises posing a higher risk to the consumer should be inspected more frequently than those premises with a lower risk.

Food premises are inspected within the range of at least every 6 months to at least every 5 years. These are only minimum inspection frequencies and local authorities may carry out more frequent inspections where they consider this appropriate.

In addition, sometimes inspections are carried out following the receipt of complaints.

For more information please contact:
The Public Protection Team,
Community Services Department,
Wealden District Council,
Vicarage Lane,
Hailsham,
East Sussex,
BN27 2AX.

Tel: 01323 443302
Email: foodandsafety@wealden.gov.uk