Public Servant Lifestyle

Thousands of new catering businesses are being targeted by the FSA as part of a five-year campaign to prevent food poisoning.

Every week hundreds of new catering businesses open their doors to customers across England. The Food Standards Agency (FSA) is now providing these small outlets in this booming industry with free expert advice on food hygiene in the latest stage of its campaign to cut food poisoning.

A practical information pack is available to anyone setting up a new catering business from scratch, whether it's a sandwich bar, gourmet restaurant or home catering business.

The pack covers everything a caterer needs to know about food hygiene and crucial general advice to help with setting up in business. In the Agency's 2001 annual Consumer Attitudes Survey more than half of all consumers (51%) expressed concern about the standards of hygiene in catering businesses. Six out of ten consumers, who had changed their eating habits as a result of a bad experience eating out, said they would not use that food outlet again. So, it makes good business sense for caterers to start out with a high level of good food hygiene.

Small, start-up catering outlets, part of an industry employing an estimated 2 million workers (according to the Office of National Statistics 2000 Annual Employment Survey) are being especially targeted by the Agency because:

Up to 20,000 new, small catering ventures are started up every year in England and Wales

According to the FSA's survey of over a 1,000 catering managers and staff in small to medium sized catering businesses, owner managers were much less likely than larger, established catering businesses to put workers through food hygiene courses because of the cost and high turnover of staff

Two thirds of the businesses (70%) only employed up to four full-time employees and just over half of the catering workers (59%) questioned had a certificate in basic food hygiene

The survey revealed that more than a third (39%) did not wash their hands after visiting the lavatory at work and half of those interviewed (53%) admitted not washing their hands before preparing food

Only 32% of catering managers believed good food hygiene practices were important to their business, compared to 64% who saw good food as the key to keeping their customers

There is a high turnover of small catering businesses and their staff. About 55% of outlets had been operating for less than two years, making it vital to raise food hygiene standards in new businesses to have a significant impact on reducing incidents of food poisoning

Cleaning, Cooking, Chilling, Cross-contamination.

The A4-sized booklet deals thoroughly with the four Cs of good food hygiene practice - Cleaning, Cooking, Chilling and Cross-contamination. Compiled with the help of the Small Business Service, the Inland Revenue and Customs and Excise, it also covers everything else anyone starting up a new business needs to know. Caterers should contact their local council's Environmental Health department to register as a new food business and for further advice.

Issues covered in the pack include: the registration of premises, requirements in design and construction of premises, health and safety, staff training, choosing suppliers, transporting food, food hygiene, food safety management, personal hygiene, staff illness, food storage, inspections by environmental health officers, food labeling, accurately describing food, VAT registration, charging VAT and record keeping.

Food Hygiene

The pack also includes a food hygiene video on CD-ROM, which can be used to train staff in basic good practice.
John Barnes, of the Local Authority Enforcement Division at the FSA, said: "Running a cafe or restaurant serving dozens of customers is not like cooking for the family at home. The risks are much higher and caterers need specialist knowledge to do the job safely.

"We want businesses to start out life with good hygiene habits. We know that when this happens those standards are more likely to be kept up over the life-time of the business. At the end of the day, good hygiene makes good business sense. Consumers will rightly vote with their feet and go elsewhere if standards are poor."

The FSA hopes to reach new owners before they open their doors to the public, or within the first six months of trading, in order to have maximum impact. Anyone in the UK considering starting up a new catering business can order a free copy of the pack from Monday by calling the dedicated new business hotline on 0845 600 1321, or alternatively the pack information can be downloaded from the FSA's website here.

The pack is available in English, Bengali, Chinese, Gujerati, Greek, Hindi, Punjabi, Turkish and Urdu. Additional guidance designed for people interested in setting up new catering businesses – but covering many of the basic issues of cleanliness and what to watch out for in eateries - is available in the form of: Starting Up: Your first steps to running a catering business.

Five-Year Campaign

The FSA launched its five-year campaign to reduce incidents of foodborne disease - by 20% by 2006 - and encourage wider awareness of good food hygiene practice in February of 2002. The survey of food hygiene knowledge of workers in the catering industry nationwide, the largest ever carried out, was published last October. The face-to-face survey interviews - among managers and staff in catering establishments - were conducted between April and May 2002 throughout Britain and Northern Ireland.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) is a central Government agency established to protect the public's health and consumer interests in relation to food safety and standards across the UK. The FSA incorporates the Meat Hygiene Service (MHS) - itself an Executive Agency of the FSA since 1995 - which is responsible for the protection of public health relating to meat products, as well as animal health and welfare issues. The FSA Scotland, was launched in April 2000.

More information available in Dining Out, To Your Door