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Food


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Law enforcement | Food hygiene course | Labelling & composition | Partnerships | Food poisoning | National Food Safety Week | Meat inspection

The primary aim of the Food Team is to ensure that food prepared, consumed or stored in the City is safe and free from risks to health, and that the responsibility for ensuring this is both understood and acted upon by food businesses within the Square Mile.

Food Service Plan

Food Service Enforcement Plan 2012-2013

The Food Service Enforcement Plan shows the work for the Food Team over various areas of food law enforcement and advice. Download a copy of the 2011-2012 plan using the link below.

Food Service Enforcement Plan 2011-12 (PDF, 179kb)

Our Service Enforcement Plan for 2012 - 2013 will go to the Porth Health and Environmental Services Committee on Tuesday, 13 March 2012.

Law enforcement

The general information on the food safety law enforced in the City can be accessed through the Food Standards Agency's webpages  which contain further links to detailed areas.

A database of City food businesses, some 1700 premises at present, is maintained and regularly updated by the Port Health & Public Protection Service. More than 1000 visits to food businesses are carried out each year according to the nationally-agreed priority rating systems for Food Hygiene and Food Standards. The findings of the latest inspections are placed onto a national website in the form of star ratings for Food Hygiene.  The City will shortly transfer from the Scores on the Doors scheme to the National Food Hygiene Rating Scheme.

The registration of establishments used for a food business (including market stalls, delivery vehicles and other moveable structures) is required by law. A new requirement is that offices of food businesses must be registered even if no food is actively handled there. Further guidance is on the second page of the form, download through the link below. Registration allows local authorities to keep an up-to date list of all those premises in their area so they can visit them when they need to. The frequency of the visits will depend on the type of business.

Download a copy of the registration form here (36kb)

Register on line

Advice on good practice and compliance is provided to ensure businesses meet common basic standards. Guidance on design, changes in legislation, or matters of public health concern is also given and training courses in basic food hygiene are provided for food handlers throughout the year. Please phone our general services number or email publicprotection@cityoflondon.gov.uk to make an enquiry. In addition, a range of health promotion activities is undertaken.

The primary aim of the Food Team is to ensure that food prepared, consumed or stored in the City is safe and free from risks to health, and that the responsibility for ensuring this is both understood and acted upon by food businesses within the Square Mile.

The Basic Food Hygiene Course

People who handle and prepare open unwrapped food such as cooks, kitchen assistants and sandwich bar workers are advised to attend a basic six hour course in food hygiene - The Basic Food Hygiene Course. Managers or Supervisors who handle any type of food also advised to have the basic training. It is good practice for staff in these grades to take further training to Intermediate or Advanced level.

The City of London runs the Basic Food Hygiene Course every other month in our offices at :

Walbrook Wharf,
78-83 Upper Thames Street,
London,
EC4R 3TD.

Click here to view  a Google map of the area indicating location of office.

The courses start at 9am and finish at 4.30 pm.

The course costs £60 inclusive per person.

You can find out more about training by contacting Mrs Tricia Jones on telephone 020 7332 3001, by sending an email to  publicprotection@cityoflondon.gov.uk

Various training providers offer courses. Some offer training on-site or in foreign languages.  Others provide web based training.  The following document lists some of the training providers but please note that we cannot recommend any particular trainer.

List of other training providers (9kb)

Labelling and Composition

Food sampling is carried out, both as part of a regular monitoring programme in conjunction with other London Boroughs, the Central Public Health Laboratory and the Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre at Colindale and the Public Analyst and to target specific areas of concern. There is close liaison with many other organisations, both local and national, to ensure advice given and action taken is as effective, consistent and up to date as possible.

The Team is able to respond rapidly to complaints from members of the public, including the hygiene of premises and the condition or labelling of food purchased.

Please phone our general services number or email  publicprotection@cityoflondon.gov.uk

to register any complaint on matters of Food Safety within the City of London.

More information can be found on our Food Labelling and Composition page.

Food poisoning

Notifications of potential cases of food poisoning are investigated in close liaison with the NE London Sector of the Health Protection Agency and allied agencies as necessary, and action taken to limit or prevent the further spread of disease. Information about food alerts issued by the Department of Health and Food Standards Agency are disseminated to food businesses.

Cases of infectious disease occurring in the City are investigated, contacts traced and advice and guidance given on the prevention of spread and recurrence. There is close collaboration with the Consultant in Communicable Disease Control of the NE London Sector of the Health Protection Agency in all cases. Please phone our general services number or email publicprotection@cityoflondon.gov.uk   to contact the Department about Food Poisoning or similar diseases.

National Food Safety Week

National Food Safety Week  is the point in the calendar for highlighting food safety and the basic principles of food hygiene. With nearly 80,000 reported cases of food poisoning in the UK per year the National Food Safety Week aims to raise awareness of the importance of food hygiene to everyone preparing, cooking and storing food.

The National Food Safety Week is  raising awareness of the 4 Cs for Food Safety: Cleanliness, Cooking, Chilling and Cross-contamination.

  1. Cleanliness: Keep your kitchen, equipment and work surfaces clean
  2. Cooking: Make sure food is properly cooked before eating
  3. Chilling: Keep perishable foods cold until you cook or eat them
  4. Cross-contamination: Don’t let harmful germs spread around your kitchen

Newsletters from previous years are also available.

A leaflet providing advice to caterers on severe food allergies has also been published and is available to download below.

Download the food allergies leaflet here (883kb)

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