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skatie
07-03-2014, 05:09 PM
After some advice please. I have been providing lunches and dinners for my mindees for nearly a year now an although I knew I had to register with the environmental health it has taken me a long time to actually get round to doing it. I thought I would stop making excuses and went to my local council office to collect the form to register and on the phone they said they had the preprinted safer food better business pack to give me. On collecting the info a lovely man spent some time chatting to me about registering, the more he talked the less I wanted to register. He was on about filling in a diary type pack every day with fridge temps, food probe temps, would I be buying the food myself, having to fill in info on the quantity of pasta I cooked how long I had cooked it for and what the probe temp was, doing a food hygiene course at a cost of £80 pounds. All this to provide 1 child with breakfast, lunch and dinner every day and one additional child dinner. Hardly seems worth it to me, but who knows how this will change going forward.

So after all that I don't want to continue providing food if I'm not legal. Obviously I will write to the parents to inform them, any ideas on how to word it/soften the blow? Do you know if I am allowed to reheat food if the parents decide to provide it without being registered as a food provider. And am I allowed to provide snacks like fruit and veg without being registered?

Thanks

sing-low
07-03-2014, 05:42 PM
I think you have to register even if you're not cooking food as you're storing it and serving it and need to do so safely. It does sound like the man you spoke with was going OTT. The SFBB pack doesn't ask for that much detail. I check but don't record fridge temp and only use my temperature probe for reheated food.

rickysmiths
07-03-2014, 05:59 PM
If the nice man had taken the trouble to read

Food Standards Agency - Safer food, better business for childminders (http://www.food.gov.uk/business-industry/caterers/sfbb/sfbbchildminders/#.UxoBCvl_v8s)

he would have known we do not have to keep any of the records he has mentioned. It is good practice to have a fridge and freezer thermometer and check that the temps are ok everyday and this can be done when you open the fridge and freezer in the day. You only have to record anything if it isn't right and then you need to record what action was taken. If all is ok you don't have to record it.

It is also good practice to have a food probe so you can check when you reheat food or cook food it reaches a min of 75 degrees. They need not be expensive though, this is the one I have.

Hygiplas Multistem Thermometer - Buy Online at Nisbets (http://www.nisbets.co.uk/Hygiplas-Multistem-Thermometer/F338/ProductDetail.raction)

I check the temperatures but I don't record them.

I always have a cold bag in the boot to bring cold food home in and in the summer I take cold blocks with me so it is kept cold.

You should keep food receipts for three months so if there was a case of food poisoning the EHO can trace the source of the food. This is even for amounts under £10.

There is no requirement for us to record the exact amount of food we are cooking or for how long.

It may be a requirement of your Borough for you to do a basic Food Hygiene Course and if that is the case you will just have to do it. Many places do ask for it. Remember the cost of the course can be put down as an expense in your accounts.

watford wizz
07-03-2014, 06:15 PM
£80 is about what I pay for my course but it does last for 3 years so just under £30 a year I don't think is that bad x

Tulip
07-03-2014, 07:35 PM
Agree with Rickysmiths. I have just been going through this pack myself. You don't have a lot to fill in, its mainly documenting if you have had a problem.

rickysmiths
07-03-2014, 08:00 PM
In the area I live Three Rivers we don't have to complete a Food Hygiene Course so we are lucky. Though I have a Diploma in Food Hygiene which I did by going to college one day a week for a year and sitting two 3 hour written papers!! I was a Catering manager.