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Safer Food, Better Business

 

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In this section you will find out all you need to know about the Food Standards Agency’s new food safety management system and how to apply it to your food business.

What is 'Safer Food, Better Business'?

‘Safer food, better business’ (or SFBB for short) is a food safety management system that has been developed by the Food Standards Agency together with over 50 local authorities, around 2000 small catering businesses and other food safety experts and consultants.

 

It has been designed to help small catering businesses comply with the new food hygiene regulations effective on the 1 January 2006, in particular with EC Regulation 852/2004. This regulation requires that food businesses put in place procedures to manage food safety and have these procedures written down.

Why the change in the law?

There are currently a large number of food hygiene regulations in force in this country. The aim is to condense these into just a few and also to incorporate new European regulations at the same time.

 

The requirement for food businesses to have written food safety management systems is one of the new European laws. The aim behind it is to improve food-handling practices in catering businesses, which in turn will help to reduce the number of cases of food poisoning in this country, approximately 5.5 million cases per year!

 

The principle on which the regulation is based is known as HACCP, which stands for Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point. This system has been around for a number of years and was originally designed to make sure that food prepared for astronauts was safe to eat! It has, therefore, been tried and tested and shown to improve the safety of food that is produced using such a system. HACCP and similar systems are currently used by many food businesses across the world, particularly manufacturers, hotel and pub chains and other catering businesses.

But don't worry....

The Food Standards Agency know from research that most of the UK’s food premises are small, independent catering businesses that find the traditional methods of HACCP difficult to understand due to its scientific approach and use of jargon. They also realise that many have no experience of writing down what they do to manage food safety i.e. what they do to ensure the food that they handle and sell is safe to eat.

 

The new regulation also allows businesses flexibility to put in place systems or procedures that are appropriate to the size and type of their business. So, for example, a large busy restaurant would need more detailed procedures than a mainly retail business that prepares a small number of sandwiches each day.

 

For the above reasons the SFBB toolkit has been developed. This will help a small catering business easily comply with the new legislation, if they make sure that they put it into practice properly. It is jargon-free and easy to understand as well!

Could I use another type of food safety management system?

Yes - SFBB is only one approach to complying with the new regulation. Other types of toolkit or systems are also available such as the ‘CookSafe’ system that has been developed for businesses in Scotland. You should choose the system that is best for your business and that you feel most comfortable with. (The SFBB system is the only one, however, that will be supported by the Food Standards Agency in England).

 

If you already have a written food safety management system that is operating in your business, then you will already have complied with the new regulation. You do not need to change to the SFBB toolkit – unless, of course, you prefer this system.

 

If you would like to find out more about the SFBB toolkit or the ‘CookSafe’ system then please see the links below.

For further information please contact the Food Team by email at regulatory@fareham.gov.uk or by telephone on 01329 236100.