Food Safety and Hygiene

This article covers registration of food premises, inspection of premises and food hygiene training.

Registration of food premises

Registration of premises used for a food business (including market stalls, delivery vehicles and other moveable structures) is required by law. If you run a food business for more than 5 days in any 5 consecutive weeks, you must tell the local authority about any premises you use for storing, selling, distributing or preparing food. Food premises includes restaurants, hotels, cafes, shops, supermarkets, staff canteens, kitchens in offices, warehouses, guest houses, delivery vehicles, buffet cars on trains, market and other stalls, hot dog and ice cream vans etc.
Anyone starting a new food business must register with the local authority at least 28 days before doing so. You can download a registration form which will also give you more details about what you need to do and what needs to be registered.

Inspection of premises

Environmental Health Service food officers carry out regular inspections and risk assessments of all premises where food is served to the public. These planned inspections take place at intervals ranging from 6 months to 3 years. The interval between inspections depends on a risk rating determined by the criteria specified in the Food Safety Act 1990 Code of Practice.
Inspections measure compliance with training requirements, food safety management systems and hygiene standards as specified in the Food Hygiene (Scotland) Regulations 2006, and associated legislation.
When required to do so, food officers serve notices to improve or to prohibit premises from operating. Deficiencies that are of a more serious nature are referred to the Procurator Fiscal for consideration of prosecution.

All food produced for human consumption requires to meet UK national standards relating to what it contains and how it is labelled. These requirements are regularly monitored by food officers and together with sampling programmes are designed to deal with particular aspects of food standards.

You can get more advice and information on any food safety issues by contacting Environmental Health. You can read a copy of the Council's current .

Training

Training people to work in the food industry is vital in order to improve food safety. Food hygiene training for all food handlers is now a requirement of the Food Safety Act 1990. Scottish Borders Council run several elementary food hygiene courses throughout the year to help businesses comply with the law.

The courses are approximately nine hours long and are divided into 3 three-hour sessions, one afternoon per week for three weeks, with a short test in the third session. Candidates who attend the course and successfully complete the short test are awarded a certificate in elementary food hygiene.

The fee for attending this course is £48.00 per person and is payable seven days before the course starts. Please note that the course will be cancelled if there are less than ten paid-up applicants. If the course is cancelled you will be given at least 48 hours notice and your fees will be refunded. If you would like to attend one of our elementary food hygiene courses a list of dates and venues are listed below. Please complete an application form (download here) and return it to the Galashiels Environmental Health Office with a cheque or postal order for the fees. Please do not send cash through the post, if you want to pay in cash please visit the Galashiels office during normal working hours.

Elementary Food Hygiene - Courses 2009
Day 1	Day 2	Day 3	Venue	Start	End
2009 Course Dates				Times
13 January	20 January	27 January	Council Chambers, Rosetta Road, Peebles	14:00	17:00
3 February	10 February	17 February	Town Hall, Hawick	13:30	16:30
4 March	11 March	18 March	The Mission, Eyemouth	13:30	16:30
22 April	29 April	6 May	Abbey Row Centre, Kelso	13:30	16:30
12 May	19 May	26 May	Council Chambers, Galashiels	13:30	16:30
2 June	9 June	16 June	Council Chambers, Rosetta Road, Peebles	14:00	17:00
11 August	18 August	25 August	Town Hall, Hawick	13:30	16:30
9 September	16 September	23 September	Council Chambers,Duns	13:30	16:30
6 October	13 October	20 October	Council Chambers, Galashiels	13:30	16:30
4 November	11 November	18 November	Abbey Row Centre, Kelso	13:30	16:30

Information regarding other courses available in the area may be obtained by contacting;

The Royal Environmental Health Institute of Scotland
3 Manor Place,
Edinburgh,
EH3 7DH

or by visiting their Web site www.rehis.org

(Last updated 11/12/08 GP)