Home produced food

[Dave]

I have posted a question from this Asian chef before and he wants me to find an answer to his latest question....

I have tried a google on this and got so many look-ups as to totally baffled.

Here is my/his question.

If he makes packets of Bombay mix in his house, how does he find out what rules and regs he has to obey? (food hygiene etc.) He tells me that he has a fully tiled kitchen, but without making phone calls to his local authority (a different one to mine) I am at a loss to advise him.

TIA

Dave

[dave]

he will need to conform to the food safety act. he will need to be inspected by the local authority. he will need to conform to health and safety at work regs. he will have to read and write a food hygiene policy and display notices. he may also have to have at least a basic food hygiene certificate.

we serve tea and coffee with biscuits and I have had to do all the above. it is getting to the stage where we don't think it is going to be viable to stay in business due to regulations.

if you do a search for food safety act and read that to start with.

Dave

[Mary Fisher]

The appropriate LA department will be very helpful. They're not dragons.

Mary

[Dave]

Thanks for that. I couldn't think of the act that regulated this.

Noted, thanks.

Thanks Dave.

Dave (not the same one above though) :-)

[Dave]

Thanks Mary. I'll get him to make contact with the LA when he phones me tomorrow.

He is reputed to be one of the top Indian chefs in the Lancashire area. I am keen to see he gets a good foot hold on his future.

Dave

[ShirKahn]

Hope you folks don't mind a yank butting in here (it's what we do best isn't it?)

While it may not be feesable to do the production in his home, often times church kitchens (at least here in the states) already meet health code and can be rented for very little. Another option may be a local school's cafeteria.

I am helping a friend of mine do the same thing with his BBQ sauce. He couldn't do the production at home but his church had a kitchen well suited and already met the draconian health regs we have here.

While I know lableing requirements differ between the civilized world and here in Oklahoma, one universal is the packaging. The regular home-style foodstuffs bags you get at the local market aren't suitable for resale in most cases. Your friend should look into getting a heat-sealer and a supply of commercial grade packaging. Commercial grade table top models show up on Ebay for sale in the UK with some regularity (I know because every time my buddy thought he found one that he could afford I'd have to point out it was for sale in England)

-christopher proctor

[bigcat]

suitable

England)

Dave:

I'm pretty sure tiled kitchens are regarded as unsuitable for commercial use.

Heat sealers are remarkably expensive for what they are, look at Trend catalogue for one (the stationers, not tool makers), but expect =A3100 for what is nothing more than a hinged thing, a bit of R wire and a small transformer. Low sales volume I guess.

NT

[Dave]

Thanks for that, I'll try a search for the FSA.

Dave

[Dave]

Thanks for that Mary. This might be my next step after I look into the post from the US. It contains a few relevant points to look out for

Dave

[Dave]

Many thanks for the extra advice in this, it is very much appreciated. I am sure that he has not looked too closely at the packaging, though he does use a heat sealer. If you know the bags I am talking about, they have a press to seal ridge and valley on them. What he does is seal with that and then run a heat sealer across, above the first seal. This way the bag can be re-sealed before the entire contents are consumed.

Dave