Food safety standards

Food safety in the City

We seek to maintain the highest standards of food safety within the City of London on behalf of all its businesses, workers, residents and visitors.

We are part of the Port Health Public Protection Service (PH&PP) and we are responsible for enforcing the following areas of law as they relate to most commercial food activities in the City of London:

• Food hygiene
• Food standards
• Occupational health and safety
• Statutory nuisances (other than noise)
• The investigation of infectious diseases

Food service enforcement

Our plans are approved by our Committee. The format and content of the plans provide the basis upon which our food safety enforcement service will be monitored and audited by the Food Standard Agency.

The service is committed to the principles of the Regulators' Compliance Code, a statutory code for all regulators. We have a Policy Statement on Enforcement, approved by the Port Health and Environmental Services Committee. This sets out our approach to enforcement work in the City.

Objectives

1. Carry out regular inspections of City food businesses at a frequency determined by national risk criteria and local intelligence
2. Assist businesses in achieving legal compliance and good standards of food safety management through the provision of targeted advice, support and training
3. Investigate food poisoning outbreaks associated with City food businesses
4. Investigate serious complaints about food purchased in the City and complaints about City food premises
5. Undertake an annual food sampling programme in liaison with other local authorities and colleagues in the Health Protection Agency
6. Take appropriate action in response to 'food alerts' issued by the FSA
7. Take appropriate enforcement action for failures to meet legal standards.

The City Commercial Environmental Health team office is located at:

PO Box 270
Guildhall
London, EC2P 2EJ
020 7332 3630

There is an office reception open from 8am to 6pm each week day. Callers are, however, advised to contact us by telephone or email if they wish to see specific officers as we are often away from the office base.

Field enforcement officers normally work between the hours of 8am to 6pm.

In the event of an 'out of hours' emergency there is a duty officer system. Telephone 020 7332 3630.