How to prevent an incident
Businesses of all sizes must take reasonable precautions to make sure the produce and food they supply meets safety requirements. Guidance on how to prevent a food or feed incident is available for farmers, manufacturers, caterers, retailers and others.
While the precautions small businesses take may not be as extensive as those taken by larger businesses, even small businesses at all stages of the food and feed chain must take reasonable precautions to make sure their produce meets food or feed requirements.
Due diligence and certification are keys to incident prevention. Continuous assessment and audit timelines must be adhered to and recorded so that any non-compliance can be identified quickly and easily.
How to deal with a food or feed incident
A guide to aid food businesses and others in preventing or dealing efficiently with food incidents if they occur can be found at the link below.
The guidelines outline the roles and responsibilities of all key players in preventing and responding to food and feed incidents. They highlight the main elements of incident prevention and give a coherent process of incident response from notification, through risk assessment, risk communication and risk management, to post-incident actions. The document provides guidance for those who have a role in incident prevention or response in the food industry, enforcement community or the Agency.
The guidelines are primarily intended to address those incidents that require action in accordance with EC General Food Law Regulation 178/2002. As far as possible, the document has been arranged so that individual modules (incident prevention, incident response by industry, FSA or enforcement authorities) can be used independently.
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Caterers
Guidance for caterers on how to prevent a food incident.
Farmers
Guidance for farmers on how to prevent a food incident.
Manufacturers
Guidance for manufacturers on how to prevent a food incident.
Retailers
Guidance for retailers on how to prevent a food incident.