Laying Down the Law on Food Safety

Legislation relating to food safety is necessary to protect the health of consumers. The law helps to ensure that all food businesses meet requirements that will enable them to produce and sell safe food. Legislation that presently applies to food businesses in Hamilton is the Food Act 1981 and the Food Hygiene Regulations 1974.

The Act is concerned that food being sold must be fit to eat. The regulations specify conditions that must be met if food is to be produced for sale, and detail practices business owners must follow to prevent food contamination, food poisoning and the spread of communicable disease.

The main requirements of the Food Hygiene Regulations are:

— The food premises must be registered with the city council in the name of the person who owns the business. This is renewed annually.

— The food premises must be in good repair, and must be equipped with facilities such as hand basins, hot water and clean surfaces. Councils cannot register the food premises if these requirements are not met.

— The food premises must be well-maintained and kept clean and tidy at all times. The premises must be kept free from vermin and insects.

— All equipment must be in good condition and must be kept clean. Work surfaces, cutting boards, slicers, knives and similar tools are all to be cleaned regularly and sanitised at the end of every working day.

— All food must be handled and stored in ways that keep it free from contamination and which prevent the growth of bacteria.

— People working on the food premises must observe proper hygiene practices and wear suitable protective clothing over their normal clothes. Long hair must be tied up. All food handlers must wash their hands regularly and understand the importance of this practice.

The regulations state any person wishing to process and/or sell food must have food premises registered with council. There are basic physical requirements that a food premises must have before a council can register it. These requirements relate to the finishes of floors, walls and ceilings and the provision of adequate lighting, ventilation and space, hand basins, sinks, hot and cold water, toilets and changing facilities.

Once food premises are registered and open for business, the certificate of registration should be clearly displayed in a public part of the premises. This registration relates to the suitability of the physical premises and not to what happens there. The regulations outline requirements that people running a food business must adhere to. Every food business owner must:

— Ensure the premises are registered in their name with council.

— Ensure the regulations are complied with in every respect.

— Supervise employed staff and family members to ensure they follow good food safety practices and do not compromise food safety requirements in the business.

— Ensure food will not become contaminated from any source on the premises, including persons, clothing, equipment, cleaning products, animals and refuse.

— Not sell any food unfit for human consumption.

— Not sell food containing anything harmful, dangerous or offensive.

— Not sell any food in packaging made of material that may contaminate food.

There are currently no legislative requirements in relation to formal food safety training for staff working in food premises. This is seen by those involved in enforcing food safety law as an important omission in the legislation.

Although council cannot require staff to undergo formal training in food safety it uses other methods in order to encourage occupiers to attend and to send staff to such training courses. These methods include promoting training courses in the quarterly food safety newsletter and providing incentives through the risk assessment programme.

If found guilty of an offence, the owner of a food business may face penalties on each count where the offence is committed knowingly that could include imprisonment for up to three months or a fine of up to $3000. On each count in any other case, the owner of the food business may face a fine of up to $1000.