Legislation for Food Safety

Legislation, regulations and codes of practice

The Food Safety Act 1990

The Food Safety Act is the main piece of legislation that governs the safety of food. The act states that it is illegal to sell or keep for sale food that is unfit for people to eat or causes food to be dangerous to health, or is not of acceptable content or quality, or is labelled or advertised in any way that misleads the consumer. If prosecuted, people who work with food must show that they have taken all reasonable steps to avoid causing any of the above.

The Food Safety (General Food Hygiene) Regulations 1995

These regulations cover the basic hygiene principles that business must follow and relate to staff, premises and food handling. They affect anyone who owns manages or works in a food business, whether it is a caravan in a lay-by-selling tea, coffee and snacks or a five star hotel. These regulations cover the following:

* The supply and selling of food in a hygienic way

* Identification of possible food hazards

* Control of identified hazards to prevent harm to customers

* The establishment of effective control and monitoring procedures to ensure that harm does not come to customers

The Food Safety (Temperature Control) Regulations 1995

These regulations cover the following aspects of food hygiene:

* The stages if the food chain that are subject to temperature controls

* The temperatures at which certain food must be kept

* Which foods are exempt from specific temperature controls

* When the temperature controls allow flexibility.