Consultation
Consultation on proposed amendments to the Food Law Code of Practice and Practice Guidance - Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland specific
A consultation seeking stakeholders’ views on proposed changes to the Food Law Code of Practice (the Code) and Practice Guidance in Northern Ireland.
This consultation will be of most interest to:
- Competent Authorities - District Councils
- Food businesses and industry trade bodies
- Awarding bodies for environmental health professionals
- Trade unions and expert groups may also have an interest
Consultation subject
The Code sets out instructions and criteria to which District Councils in Northern Ireland must have regard when discharging their duties in relation to the delivery of official food control activities. The Code requires regular review and revision to ensure that it reflects current priorities, policy and legislative requirements so that the delivery of food control activities remail effective, consistent and proportionate. The FSA is required to consult on proposed amendments to the Code.
Purpose of this consultation
This consultation seeks stakeholders' views on proposed changes to the Northern Ireland Code and Practice Guidance. The key proposals include:
- an updated risk-based approach to the prioritisation and timescales for undertaking initial food hygiene official controls of new food establishments
- enabling, in certain circumstances, an establishment's food hygiene intervention risk rating to be amended following a wider range of official control methods and techniques, including those undertaken remotely
- extending the activities that officers who do not hold a specified qualification for food hygiene or standards, can, if competent, undertake
- a clarification in approach to interventions at food hygiene establishments that fall into risk category E for food hygiene
- removal of a prescriptive number of hours required for continuing professional development
- other amendments to reflect legislative change, provide clarity, improve consistency, and keep pace with current practices
Consultation pack
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
How to respond
Please use the consultation response form to provide your comments. The form should then be emailed to CodeReviewResponses@food.gov.uk
Northern Ireland
Parallel consultations are also being undertaken in England and Wales.
Publication of response summary
Within three months of a consultation ending we aim to publish a summary of responses received and provide a link to it from this page.
You can find information on how we handle data provided in response to consultations in our Consultations privacy notice.
Further information
This consultation has been prepared in accordance with HM Government Consultation Principles. If an Impact Assessment has been produced, this is included in the consultation documents. If no Impact Assessment has been provided, the reason will be given in the consultation document.