New Food Information Regulations – Not just Food Labels?
What are the New Food Information Regulations?
Essentially they are about giving Food Information to the consumers of your foods! but it is not just about Food Labels or Food Packaging it is about staff knowledge & interaction with the consumer
The Food Iinformation for Consumers, Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011, apply in the UK from 13 December 2014 to all caterers
Caterers must be ready to give information to their customers on food allergens used in their dishes. We have had labels on packaged foods for some time, and the law applying to them will be changing too- think May Contain and hidden small print!
But the biggest change is that those who supply unpackaged goods- caterers, deli’s, cafes, sandwich bars, pubs & resturants will now need to comply
The requirement is to provide information to consumers on what is in the food, some 2 million (FSA fiqures) people in this country suffer from a Food Allergy; this is both frightening for those suffering- the worst case scenario would be an analphylactic shock/ fatality but can be seen as an opportunity for business!
The regulations are not daunting if a company is already managing its Food Safety!
The Statutory Instrument has now been issued so we now have the detail. We have recently assisited the Food Standards Agency with training Enforcement Officers (Environmental Health and Trading Standards)
We have already been advising clients on how to comply, and we have run an open free workshop- we have another workshop scheduled for 14th October, but are also able to offer a Level 3 Award in Food Allergen Management for Caterers (both as an in-house course, or an open course is running on 17th September in Norwich), and also consultancy on this issue. A cieh eLearning course will be available from October, but we are also able to help trainn staff. It has been included on our Food Safety Courses for some time now.
So if you are interested in knowing more please be in touch www.redcat.gb.com