Code of Practice for England
Sunday 12 August 2007
The Food Law Code of Practice and associated Practice Guidance for England is available.
The Code of Practice sets out instructions and criteria to which the local and port health authorities (food authorities) should have regard to when engaged in the enforcement of food law. Food authorities must follow and implement the provisions of the code that apply to them.
It was necessary to revise and update the Food Safety Act 1990 Code of Practice and associated Practice Guidance relating to England issued in October 2004 to take account of EU Food Hygiene and Official Feed and Food Controls Regulations and the national implementing regulations relating to England, all of which were applicable from 1 January 2006.
The Food Standards Agency held a public consultation exercise on revised drafts of the documents in 2005. Following consideration of the consultation responses the Agency issued, on 4 November 2005, further drafts for use by authorised officers as guidance until the documents had been finalised. This was necessary because, at the time, there were on-going matters in relation to the legislative changes at both European and national level which meant that further revisions to the documents would be required.
See the finalised Code of Practice (pdf document 471kb), associated Practice Guidance (pdf document 1,173kb) and the letter containing a summary of the main changes sent to food authorities in England (pdf document 83kb).
Legislation and documents relevant to the Code of Practice and Practice Guidance can be found below.
If you have any queries about the Code of Practice and/or Practice Guidance please contact:
Bola Nathan
Food Fraud, Diversity and Support Branch
Room 415C, Aviation House
125 Kingsway
London, WC2B 6NH
tel: 020 7276 8455
fax: 020 7276 8463
email: abimbola.nathan@foodstandards.gsi.gov.uk.
Review of the Food Law Code of Practice
The Code of Practice is being reviewed and the key proposals are the introduction of the concept of interventions and the redefining of official controls, as well as moving all food establishments into a risk-based inspection regime. See the consultation. Responses are requested by 10 December 2007.
Related links
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External links The Food Standards Agency has no responsibility for the content of external websites
See also
(pdf 163KB)