FSA Food Safety Advice

The general hygiene and other requirements of the Food Hygiene Regulation are covered within this guide. Specific requirements for businesses handling products of animal origin, including game, are detailed in Appendix 3.
FBOs need to put in place, implement and maintain food safety management procedures based on HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point) principles. FBOs are required to establish documents and records for this system, the extent of which will depend on the nature and size of the business.

This guidance document aims to advise you on how to reduce the hazards associated with your process by following pre-requisite procedures, and therefore reduce the HACCP requirements. The Food Safety Management procedure requirements can be found in Appendix 4. Most local authority Environmental Health Services will have advice available on food safety management procedures. In addition, you can obtain further information from the Food Standards Agency website.

This document will help you consider your own day-to-day working practices. The guidance and examples given are not exhaustive and you should discuss your working practices with your local Environmental Health Service. Consideration should be given to restricting using both cooked and raw food and preparing as much as possible at the home base in order to minimise potential sources of contamination. If you are unable to implement and maintain safe working methods, consideration must be given to changing what you do.

Planning and documenting your process steps and consideration of the hazards will help you meet the requirements of the relevant legislation. To determine what types of business you have, and therefore what procedures and controls apply to you, you should work through the flow diagram (“Business Selector”) found in Appendix 5.