Hygiene for food businesses

Food businesses must register with their local council and comply with food law.

Food business registration

You must register your business with the environmental health service (EHS) at your local council at least 28 days before opening. Food operations include:

• selling food
• cooking food
• preparing food
• distributing food
• storing food
• handling food

You may also need to have your business approved if you supply another business with:

• meat and meat products
• eggs
• milk and dairy products
• fish and fish products

For information on how to register, contact the EHS at your local council. They can also advise you on the food hygiene law, and how it applies to your business in practice.

Food hygiene and safety inspections

Food safety enforcement officers from your local council will inspect your business to make sure you are complying with food hygiene law. Inspections are usually unannounced.

Where necessary, inspectors can take enforcement action to protect public health, including:

• serving a legal notice that sets out actions you must take, or forbidding you from using certain processes, premises or equipment
• recommending prosecution, in serious cases

Find out what to expect from a food safety inspection.

Food hygiene regulations

Food hygiene regulations set out requirements covering all aspects of your business. You must make sure that:

• your establishments meet hygiene standards
• staff follow good personal hygiene practice
• food safety hazards are identified and controlled, including cooking, refrigeration and cross contamination
• staff receive appropriate instruction or training in food hygiene, and are supervised

Depending on the nature of your business, you may also need to keep written records of how you manage food safety hazards.

You must put food safety management procedures in place based on the principles of HACCP (hazard analysis critical control point). In practice, this means that you must have documented procedures to manage food safety hazards in your business.

New rules on food safety culture

In March 2021, the EU adopted Regulation (EU) 2021/382 which introduced 'food safety culture' into the main EU food hygiene law.

This new requirement means food businesses in the EU must build a culture where everyone, from management to staff, understands and prioritises food safety in their everyday work.

Because the UK had already left the EU by the time this update was made, it doesn’t apply in Great Britain. However, under the Windsor Framework, EU food safety laws (including this update) still apply in Northern Ireland.

So, in practice, food safety culture is a legal requirement in Northern Ireland, but not in Great Britain. Local councils in Northern Ireland can look at how a business promotes food safety culture when they carry out inspections or other official checks.

Guides such as the Safe Catering Pack, Safer food better business and industry guides will assist you in meeting food hygiene legal requirements. 

Cleaning, disinfection and preventing cross-contamination are essential to make sure the food you serve is safe to eat, and to prevent food poisoning.

Cleaning, disinfection and food hygiene

Effective cleaning, and disinfection where necessary, removes bacteria from hands, equipment and surfaces. This helps prevent harmful bacteria spreading onto food. You should:

• wash and disinfect work surfaces and equipment between different tasks and after preparing raw meat, shellfish, poultry and eggs
• clean as you go, dealing with spills as they happen
• use appropriate cleaning products and follow the manufacturer's instructions
• use disinfectants that meet recognised standards such as BS EN 1276 or BS EN 13697
• prevent food waste building up

Hand washing is a key part of food hygiene. Anyone who handles food must wash their hands:

• before starting work
• before handling food
• after breaks
• after using the toilet
• after emptying rubbish
• after cleaning
• after touching raw meat, poultry or eggs
• after touching a cut or changing a dressing

Download hand-washing guidance (PDF, 572KB).

Cross-contamination

Cross-contamination happens when harmful bacteria spread from food, surfaces, hands or equipment onto other food. It is most likely to happen when:

• raw food touches or drips onto other food
• raw food touches or drips onto equipment, work surfaces or cloths
• staff handle raw food with their hands and then touch ready-to-eat food

For example, storing raw meat above ready-to-eat food in the fridge can contaminate the food below.

How to prevent food cross-contamination

To prevent cross-contamination in your business, you should:

• Clean and disinfect work surfaces, chopping boards and equipment before preparing food and after using them with raw food.
• Use separate, colour-coded equipment (including chopping boards and knives) for raw meat/poultry and ready-to-eat food unless they can be heat disinfected in, for example, a commercial dishwasher.
• Wash hands before preparing food and after touching raw food.
• Keep raw and ready-to-eat food apart at all times, including packaging.
• Store raw food below ready-to-eat food in the fridge or use separate fridges for raw and ready-to-eat food.
• Provide separate working areas, storage, clothing and staff for the handling of ready-to-eat food.
• Use separate machinery and equipment, such as vacuum packing machines, slicers and mincers, for raw and ready-to-eat food.
• Use separate cleaning materials, including cloths, sponges and mops, in areas where ready-to-eat foods are stored, handled and prepared.
• Train staff to understand how to avoid cross-contamination.

Cooking and chilling are both essential to make sure the food you serve in your food business is safe to eat, and to prevent food poisoning.

Cooking food in your food business

Thorough cooking at the correct temperature kills harmful bacteria in food. You must not serve food that is not fully cooked. You should serve cooked food immediately or keep it hot until serving. If you're cooking food in advance, cool and chill it quickly.

It is important to make sure that you fully cook:

• poultry
• pork
• rolled joints
• products made from minced meat, such as burgers and sausages

These foods must not be served pink or rare, as they could harbour bacteria if undercooked. These foods should be steaming hot all the way through. 

Whole cuts of beef and lamb, such as steaks, cutlets and whole joints, can be served pink or rare as long as they are fully sealed on the outside.

Chilling food in your food business

Chilling food to the correct temperature stops bacteria from growing. The Food Standards Agency recommends chilling food at 0-5 degrees Celsius. Chilling food below 8 degrees Celsius is a legal requirement.

You must keep some foods chilled to keep them safe. For example:

• food with a 'use by' date
• food that you have cooked and not served immediately
• ready-to-eat food such as prepared salads

Guidelines for chilling food

You should always:

• check chilled food on delivery to make sure it is cold enough
• refrigerate chilled food immediately
• cool cooked food as quickly as possible before chilling
• keep chilled food out of the fridge for the shortest time possible during preparation
• avoid overloading fridges
• regularly check the temperature of your fridge and refrigerated display units

Anyone working with or near open food who has certain infections - bacterial or viral - must take precautions to prevent contamination.

Staff handling food or working in a food handling area must immediately report symptoms such as diarrhoea and/or vomiting to their manager. These symptoms are associated with illnesses that can be transmitted through food. 

You must not allow anyone with these symptoms to work with or around open food, usually until 48 hours after symptoms have stopped.

Food business operators should follow guidance from the Food Standards Agency on good hygiene practices in food preparation and Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) processes.

Importance of washing hands

Anyone who handles food and works around open food must wash and dry their hands thoroughly before handling food or touching surfaces likely to come into contact with food. Food workers must always wash their hands after using the toilet. People can carry infection even if they do not show symptoms.

Read more about cleaning, disinfection and preventing food cross-contamination.

This section addresses common misunderstandings that can lead to unsafe food practices. Businesses should rely on food hygiene law and recognised guidance, not myths, when handling food.

The Food Standards Agency has compiled a list of common questions and answers to dispel any food safety and hygiene-related myths.

1. True or False: If food looks ok and smells ok it's safe to eat

False - it's a myth

Although a bad smell or taste can indicate that food has 'gone off', these signs often aren't caused by germs that give you food poisoning. So the food's appearance, smell or taste aren't reliable warning signs. Instead, stick to the 'use by' date and storage instructions on the packet.

2. True or False: Eating food after the 'best before' date won't hurt

True - it's a food safety fact

'Best before' dates are about food quality, not safety. They are usually found on food that lasts a long time. If food has passed its 'best before' date, it doesn't mean it's unsafe, but it might have started to lose its colour, flavour or texture.

3. True or False: 'Use by' dates are there to make you buy more

False - it's a myth

A 'use by' date tells you how long food will stay safe. They have to be put on food that 'goes off' quickly - and they aren't just guesswork; the dates are worked out by scientific testing. Don't be tempted to eat food after the 'use by' date on the label, even if it looks and smells fine.

4. True or False: Stick to the 'five second rule' and you'll be ok

False - it's a myth

We've all been there! That delicious slice of cake slips from your fingers and lands on the floor, and you think surely it will be ok if I pick it up quickly enough? Well, unfortunately - no! However quickly you manage to retrieve it, any contact with the floor is long enough for the food to pick up nasty germs.

5. True or False: Plastic chopping boards are more hygienic than wooden ones

False - it's a myth

There isn't any strong evidence that one type of chopping board is more or less hygienic than another, whether plastic, wooden, glass or even marble. What is important is that the board gets cleaned properly after every use and is replaced if it gets damaged, for example from deep cuts or scoring. You could also use separate chopping boards for raw and ready-to-eat foods.

6. True or False: You don't need to wash raw chicken before you cook it

True - it's a food safety fact

Although most raw meat will have some germs on it, washing won't get rid of them. In fact, washing is more likely to spread germs around the kitchen. Little splashes of water can contaminate you, your worktops and anything else in the way. Thorough cooking is the only way to get rid of these nasty germs.

7. True or False: If you've got a 'dodgy' stomach it's usually from the last thing you ate

False - it's a myth

It's natural to suspect the thing you ate most recently would be the cause of food poisoning, but that isn't always the case. Symptoms usually take between one and three days to develop, so it won't necessarily be from the last thing you ate.

8. True or False: Most food poisoning is from 'dodgy' restaurants and takeaways

False - it's a myth

There's no specific evidence that food eaten out is more likely to cause food poisoning than food prepared at home, but it's easier to blame someone else. The habits we pick up from friends and family don't always ensure food is produced safely at home. As well as expecting good hygiene standards when eating out, we should also think about how to do things better at home.

9. True or False: Food poisoning isn't serious, it's just an upset stomach

False - it's a myth

Although most cases of food poisoning are mild and last only a day or two, some can be far more serious, even deadly. Thankfully this is rare, but with more than a million cases of food poisoning each year, 20,000 of which require hospital treatment, every case is worth avoiding. Avoid food poisoning by remembering the simple 4Cs for good food hygiene: cleaning, cooking, chilling and cross-contamination.

10. True or False: Steak's ok rare - as long as the outside is brown

True - it's a food safety fact

Steak is safe to eat 'rare'. Whole cuts of beef or lamb, such as steaks, cutlets and joints only have germs on the outside, so as long as the outside is fully cooked any germs will be killed. But this isn't true for poultry, pork, burgers and sausages, these must be cooked all the way through.

11. True or False: It's best to serve burgers pink in the middle

False - it's a myth

Unlike steaks, burgers and sausages are made from meat that has been minced, so germs will be spread throughout the product and not just on the surface. This means these products need to be properly cooked all the way through. To check if a burger is done, cut into the thickest part and check there is no pink meat, it is steaming hot and juices are clear.

12. True or False: Cooked rice can't be kept as long as other leftovers

True - it's a food safety fact

Leftover cooked rice is fine to eat as long as it gets cooled and refrigerated quickly after cooking and eaten within 24 hours. This is because rice can contain a particularly tough type of bacteria that can survive heating. Most other leftovers are safe to eat up to two days after cooking. Always reheat leftovers until steaming hot and do not reheat more than once.

You should store, handle and prepare eggs carefully to prevent the spread of salmonella bacteria. Bacteria can be on the shell or in the egg itself, and can spread to other foods if eggs come into contact with them (or with hands and cooking utensils).

Salmonella can cause serious food poisoning, particularly in vulnerable groups such as:

• elderly people
• unwell people
• people who have a weakened immune system
• pregnant women
• babies and toddlers

Ten tips for working with eggs safely

To prevent risks associated with salmonella food poisoning, food businesses should:

1. Keep eggs separate from other foods.
2. Cook eggs and egg dishes thoroughly.
3. Use pasteurised egg for raw or lightly cooked dishes.
4. Always wash and dry your hands thoroughly after handling eggs.
5. Never use damaged or dirty eggs.
6. Serve egg dishes immediately or cool them quickly and keep chilled.
7. Avoid splashing egg onto worktops, utensils or other foods.
8. Clean food areas and equipment thoroughly after working with eggs.
9. If breaking eggs to use later (sometimes called 'pooling'), keep the liquid egg refrigerated and take out small amounts as needed.
10. Use 'pooled' egg the same day and do not add new eggs to top it up.

Cross-contamination is when bacteria spread between food, surfaces or equipment. It is one of the most common causes of food poisoning. Use this quick checklist every day to minimise food hygiene risks in your business.

1. Clean and disinfect work surfaces, chopping boards and equipment thoroughly before preparing food and after using them with raw food.
2. Use separate, colour-coded chopping boards and knives for raw meat/poultry and ready-to-eat food (unless they can be heat disinfected in a commercial dishwasher).
3. Wash your hands before preparing food and after touching raw food.
4. Keep raw and ready-to-eat food separate from one another at all times, including packaging material for ready-to-eat food.
5. Store raw food below ready-to-eat food in the fridge. If possible, use separate fridges for raw and ready-to-eat food.
6. Provide separate working areas, storage facilities, clothing and staff for the handling of ready-to-eat food.
7. Use separate equipment, such as vacuum packing machines, slicers and mincers, for raw and ready-to-eat food.
8. Use separate cleaning materials, including cloths, sponges and mops, in areas where ready-to-eat foods are stored, handled and prepared.
9. Train your staff so they understand how to avoid cross-contamination

For more advice, read about food hygiene and the law.