Features
Coping with Food Hygiene Law
Working for nearly twenty years in various aspects of the food regulatory framework, I have seen the shape of food law change and develop into what policy refers to as a more streamlined and transparent approach.
Despite this the complaints that I hear concerning legislative compliance haven’t noticeably changed over this time, especially those relating to the food hygiene package and the level of product sampling required for analysis, (Regulations (EC) No 852/2004, (EC) No 853/2004 and (EC) No 2073/2005).
It is unfortunate to hear from would-be food producers and caterers that they feel unable to start up in business or build on an existing client base, due to restrictive regulatory pressures. In the vast majority of cases this is merely a perception where it is a lack of understanding of the relationship between the scale of the operation and the level of compliance required of their business that is hindering their trading position, a situation that is often exacerbated by overly cautious enforcement.
Flexible implementation
The hygiene package was introduced on 1st January 2006 and impacts on all food businesses, including caterers, primary producers, manufactures, distributors and retailers. The principal policy includes a risk based scientific approach to the legislation, requiring the competent authority to adopt a flexible approach to the application of these legal requirements. Flexibility is required to be appropriate to enable the continued use of traditional methods, but without compromise to food hygiene.
The legislation governing microbiological sampling of foodstuffs follows on from Regulation 852/2004, also allowing some flexibility to derogate from a proposed sampling regime and frequency. Crucially for small operations, Article 4 permits the frequency of sampling to be adapted to the nature and size of the operation, provided that food safety is not endangered. Sampling frequency, therefore, is to be determined by the level of risk posed to consumers by the end product. This includes producers caught under Regulation 853/2004, e.g. cheese and poultry.
In simple terms, the hygiene package legislation sets the objectives while leaving the business itself flexibility to determine the safety measures to take, rather than prescribing them in great detail.
Risk related to scale
It is important to realize that the governing legislation necessarily encompasses all scales of business and consequently to differentiate the various requirements as they apply for both large and small scale food business. As this is not clearly defined in the legislation, the smaller business needs to focus on what elements are appropriate for their product, its risk to consumers and their scale of turnover.
What can initially look like a mine field of legal requirement, will usually break down into simple procedures and steps such as keeping records and being aware of where the risks are, and equally importantly where they are not. The key is that requisite checks and balances need to be in proportion to the scale of the business model in question.
More detailed procedures come into play should a smaller business wish to extend their client base, range of produce or, for instance, supply to a larger retailer or food processor. This is mainly due to the more onerous level of compliance placed on a large food operation requiring an approved suppliers list capturing what the larger business requires as a function of its food safety management systems. The larger business requires this because, quite simply, the end product is consumed by more people. So should a food incident occur, it will potentially affect a much wider group and so inherently carry a greater statistical risk of complications. Therefore the level of compliance checks required by law of the larger business becomes increasingly onerous. Greater risk: greater need for monitoring and supervision by the competent authority under the regulations.
Surmountable obstacles
The paperwork that applies to a producer aspiring to supply a larger operation with their produce can be very off-putting to small producers. However, it is important to consider that the standard audit criteria that larger business will be using will have been designed to suit all sectors of food production meaning that the requirements of the larger business should not over burden their smaller suppliers - it’s not in their interest.
Likely requirements will include some changes to document keeping and possibly some level of product analysis to demonstrate compliance with microbiological criteria. Unfortunately, faced with this, owners of small operations will often go no further. In reality such sampling and analysis is neither onerous nor expensive. There are accredited laboratories in Ireland that are very approachable, helpful and efficient and have a network of samplers who come to you to take samples by arrangement.
Available expertise
Complete Lab Solutions based in Connemara is one such company, with many years experience and a client list ranging from small owner manager operations to very large national chains. They will be very happy to advise on what to sample for and how, with very cost-effective and straight forward advice (details of other Irish labs available from the FSAI).
There is no point in testing products that have no associated risk, sampling and analysis needs to be targeted and focused where the risk resides. For many small operators and example would be where a well is used for a water supply. In the context of identifying and quantifying risk, effective monitoring simply means a couple of water samples per year being tested for known pathogens. If a problem arises typical remedial action could be the fitting of an inexpensive UV lamp system. Analysis is also an excellent tool to verify effective food safety procedures and it can go a long way to getting that much needed additional business for relatively small outlay.
Good outcome
Rather than be put off by the perception of daunting and onerous hoops to jump through – work with the public and private sector structures that are in place to ensure risk is understood and minimized to the benefit of all. Understand and, importantly, query the significance of the advice. No one knows how the business runs better than the owner. If an opportunity is identified, with the right procedures in place then that all important expansion or new market can be exploited to the benefit of all, resulting in an increasingly varied and interesting range of wholesome foods becoming available.
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