Home Kitchen/Start Ups
Help for Home Kitchens and Start-Ups
Start-Up Challenges
On this page, there is a wealth of useful information for start-ups. With this information and my guidance and mentoring, we can make sure your business is fully compliant together!
Once you have read through this information, call me at Ruth Shaw Consulting Ltd for further guidance. We can chat about what stage you’re with your business and the next steps you need to take. We can put a plan of action into place and I can guide and mentor you all the way to success!
I am based in Sheffield, however I work with businesses nationwide.
Preparing for your first EHO
Preparing for your first Environmental Health Inspection can be a daunting task. When producing foods to be packaged and sent either for retailer sale or direct to the end consumer, the expectation is a little higher when it comes to what you need to do to prepare, and the level of documentation you should have. However, if you follow these simple steps, you should have everything covered
1. Registering with your Local Council
To register your business with your local council, click on the link below to get started:
https://www.gov.uk/food-business-registration
All food businesses need to register with their local council, whether working from a home kitchen, in a shared commercial kitchen, or a dedicated manufacturing facility. You need to register whether you are a new food business, or you are taking over an existing business. Registration is free and will not be refused. The council state you must register 28 days before opening your food business, but if you have not, then it must be as soon as possible after.
2. Preparing for your first EHO Inspection
It’s a great idea to get in touch with your EHO. Ask advice, get them on side – they will be more likely to be amenable and provide helpful guidance. Some EHO’s are very helpful, however be aware, that others may not have the time.
Preparing for your first Environmental Health Inspection can be a daunting task. When producing foods for retail sale, direct to the consumer, or for further manufacture, there are specific expectations when it comes to what you need to do to prepare, and the level of documentation you should have.
Your EHO will want to see that you, the Food Business Operator (FBO) are committed to food safety. They call it Management Commitment – providing the resource through finance, staff resource and training to carry out a safe food business operation.
Do some reading and get ahead with the regs…
Food Hygiene Regulations – the links below are extremely helpful for this!
The Food Safety Act 1990
EC 852/2004 (European Regulations)
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2004:139:0001:0054:en:PDF
However, if you follow my guidance for ‘Practical Considerations’ and ‘Documentation Must Haves’, you’ll have everything covered.
3. Practical Considerations...
Your EHO will look around your facility, where it is your home kitchen or a commercial kitchen, to assess whether they think it is a suitable place for the preparation of the food you are making. They will assess the following:
- Design of premises, the layout and fabrication of floors and walls
- Suitability of equipment
- Hygiene and cleaning
- Pest control
- Maintenance – is your premises in good repair?
- Personal hygiene of the team
- Sufficient hand wash sinks with hot running water
- Storage and preparation controls preventing cross-contamination
- Shelf life of stored ingredients and prepared foods
- Segregation of raw and cooked food, and allergens and non-allergens
4. Documentation Must Haves
- HACCP Plan and associated CCP records
- Shelf life evidence of your finished product, usually lab testing
- Training evidence – Basic or Level 2 Food Hygiene training. Check out these cost effective online courses: https://www.food-hygiene-certificate.co.uk/food-hygiene-level-2-manufacturing.aspx
- Cleaning records and suitability of chemicals through COSHH sheets
- Traceability – evidence to prove you are able to trace ingredients and finished products
- Procedure for Incidents, Recalls and Withdrawals
- Correct Labelling of your products, especially for allergen information. Trading Standards can assist with this, although they do not provide an in-depth label legality service
HACCP Plan
Writing a HACCP for the first time can be a little daunting. Some people do not know where to start and have had no experience in HACCP previously. A lot of start-up businesses are run by foodies – creative cooks and chefs with a passion for food, not hazard analysis of food safety risks!
To help you complete an HACCP plan from scratch, I provide an expert service, which can be in person at your site, or via online meetings and telephone calls. The way I complete all HACCP plans is to follow the legislation by using the 7 Principles of Codex Alimentarius.
My 5 Step Process of HACCP Completion is:
- Information gathering for the HACCP Scope: HACCP Team, Product Descriptions and Processes
- Documenting the Product Description and Process Flow Diagram and verify them as correct
- Carry out the Hazard Analysis
- Define CCPs, Monitoring Procedures and Corrective Actions
- Provide you with a finished, documented HACCP plan with all of the associated CCP Procedures and Records ready to implement into your business. I then take time to fully explain the content of the HACCP plan to you, so you understand the logic and methodology, so you can confidently relay this to your EHO or auditor
By following this methodical process, you know you have an HACCP completed by someone who is highly trained and experienced, ensuring that you have a clear and bespoke HACCP plan in place.
Your HACCP plan a very important document to help you understand food safety. It is also a legal requirement and is essential to keep the food you produce safe, in turn keeping the consumers safe and ultimately your business!
Legal Label Compliance
The service I provide ensures that the following information is thoroughly checked:
- Product name and legal description
- Ingredient declaration, including QUID (Quantitative Ingredient Declaration), additives, allergens and allergens statement
- Claims, such as health, nutrition or provenance which have to be validated
- Nutritional information that needs to be calculated or tested. Nutritional calculations can be provided.
- Net quantity
- Minimum durability, i.e. shelf life – best before / use by date
- Storage instructions
- Name and address
- Country of origin
- Instructions for use
- Alcohol content
- Claims
As you can see, there is a lot to think about! Take away the burden of wondering if your label is right by letting my expertise do the work for you. Please get in touch for further information.
Shelf Life Testing
Shelf Life. The life of the product after production until it has to be ‘Used By’ or it is ‘Best Before’.
So, what’s the difference?
Use By – The product must be consumed by the ‘Use By’ the date applied to the pack. It must not be consumed after the Use By date. After that date, pathogenic bacteria will grow to unsafe levels. We understand this, because chilled and high-risk products are tested by a laboratory to validate what the ‘Use By’ date should be. It is necessary to test, to protect the consumer.
Best Before – The product is better quality if it is consumed before the Best Before date. After that date, the quality of the product declines. Signs of deterioration such as visual quality, odour, taste will appear. The assessments completed on ambient stable products are called Organoleptic Assessments, which are sensory tests: Taste, Odour, Appearance, Texture and Colour. Ambient stable products such as bread, jams, marmalades, biscuits, cake etc, can be assessed through organoleptic testing only.
Best Before dates are also applied to products such as tinned products, and ambient jarred sauces. These types of product have to go through a thermal process to ensure they are safe, such as sterilisation. These types of products will require microbiological testing as well as organoleptic testing.
Getting microbiological testing done for the products which need it, is essential in order to determine product shelf life. Because, if you get it wrong, you could cause someone to have food poisoning, become very sick, be hospitalised and for the vulnerable categories of people, you could cause death. So yes, this part of launching a product is very important!
HACCP Training Resources
If you feel you and your team could benefit from increasing your HACCP understanding and knowledge with help from a qualified industry expert, then look no further! I can provide a course to suit your needs – from a half day to a full day, on-site or virtual HACCP Level 2. It can be tailored to your businesses products and processes to make sure it is relevant. A certificate will be provided for those who pass the HACCP quiz at the end. Please enquire for costs!
Free Training Resources
See the below link for some free food safety training from the government website. It is a great place to start when you want to do things right from the start and give your staff the best knowledge and skills you can, but also keep the costs down:
https://www.food.gov.uk/business-guidance/online-food-safety-training
