Environmental health visit

macca.86

Hi all. I am at the early stages of setting up a small food business which I will be operating from my home. I am aware that I need to have a member of environmental health out to give my premises the thumbs up before I start. I am quietly confident as I have a very clean, organized and pretty new kitchen but I'm sure that is not all that is needed. Could anyone give any tips of what they look for? Any advise would be so helpful. TIA x

Faith

Mod note: Moved from The Cooking Club. Not sure if this is the correct place either, tbh - sorry if it's not.

Bandara

macca.86 wrote: »

Hi all. I am at the early stages of setting up a small food business which I will be operating from my home. I am aware that I need to have a member of environmental health out to give my premises the thumbs up before I start. I am quietly confident as I have a very clean, organized and pretty new kitchen but I'm sure that is not all that is needed. Could anyone give any tips of what they look for? Any advise would be so helpful. TIA x

The best thing to do is ring them and ask them to come out and tell you what they will require from you. Saves you going and spending money only to be told that you’ve laid it out wrong, and to change this and that.

Obviously you’ll need full Haccp plan and clear evidence that you have it implemented.

They actually sell a folder which has everything, including the Haccp sheets you’ll need for your ongoing daily monitoring and reports.

They also run courses on the training you’ll need to undergo.

Ring them in your local office and ask for their help.

That’s the first port of call. They aren’t the worst to deal with at all. Don’t mind the people who say avoid like the plague. Once your clean and professional and engage with them, they are very accommodating.

Good luck with it.

macca.86

Thank you so much for this. I will definitely speak to them about it.

silver2020

#1 - Fridge temperature records taken at least twice a day.

#2 - storage of foodstuffs. Avoid any chance of cross contamination specially cooked / uncooked.

#3 - Delivery records of food stuffs.

as above - the folder has everything including different record books and makes it so easy to follow.

irishhombre123

Your Local Enterprise Office should offer regular food business courses, i am doing one now myself.

They are very helpful.

Good Luck
IH

PickYourName

Some good advice above.

Key thing is to educate yourself as much as possible with information from the FSAI.

On the specifics of producing at home (which I did a few years back, so have been though the process), the key thing they will look for is separation from domestic work. For example, we had a separate fridge for use by the business. Also, number of sinks can be an issue. As I said, though: separation is key: they'll want to see what's used by the business is kept apart from home-based activities, either by location, time and/or equipment.