Why was tha food safety act 1990 put in place?

These regulations came into effect on 15 September 1995 and replace the Food Hygiene (General) Regulations 1970 as the most significant set of hygiene rules for food businesses.

The regulations implement an EC directive on general food hygiene, which will become the standard for all EC member states. In time, therefore, the rules we apply to food businesses in the United Kingdom will be identical to those that apply in countries such as Spain, Greece, France, etc.

The regulations apply to all types of food and drink and their ingredients. But some businesses 鈥?generally manufacturers of products of animal origin, such as dairies or wholesale fish markets 鈥?follow their own product-specific regulations.

The regulations aim to set out basic hygiene principles, which are generally not new, but their emphasis is different from previous regulations. They focus more strongly on how to identify and control food safety risks at each stage of the process of preparing and selling food.

Rather than simply following a list of rules, the regulations let you assess the risk to food safety and then apply controls relevant to your own situation. Not all the requirements for the structure and equipment of food premises will apply to you. Some are followed by the words 鈥榳here appropriate鈥?or 鈥榳here necessary鈥? For example, one provision states that, 鈥榳here appropriate鈥?floors must allow surface drainage. But where you have a system to ensure water does not build up, so that there is no risk to food safety, actual floor drains may not be necessary. So there is no absolute requirement to have them.

The act is far reaching and involves everbody in the food industry.

They also lay down basic rules for the handling, storage, transport of food and the hygiene of staff as well as training requirements.

Perhaps the most important requirement of the these regulations concerns the MANAGEMENT of food safety within the business.

This requires the proprietors of all businesses of whatever scale, to look at all the processes involving food, from their suppliers to the final customer and to identify where things may go wrong. This is the same principle as in Health and Safety law. Health and Safety call it Risk Assessment and food law calls it Hazard analysis.

To keep food safe from tampering.