We all sit and wonder whether today will be the day that our local environmental health officer will be popping through our door to inspect the kitchen and whether your work as a chef is up to their very high standards.
So it’s great to be extremely organised and to know exactly what the E.H.O will be looking for in your business.
The first thing that will be inspected, is the overall picture of the business, so if your business looks dirty and not well looked after from the outside, then they will assume that it’s exactly the same on the inside.
They will check the state of drains, see if the building in a good state, check the outside is clean and then they will probably check the area around the back (usually where bins are) and see if your business has been looking after the waste areas.
And the most important thing to remember is that at this point, they haven’t even stepped foot inside, so make sure you haven’t ruined your chances of a good hygiene standards score because you haven’t looked after your outside areas.
TOP TIP: If you’re worried about how your business looks from the outside, get a friend or relative to walk past and give their most honest opinion of what they think and if they pick out certain things, change them.
The second thing that will be looked at is whether your business has hot water. If you haven’t or even if your boiler has packed up on the same day, you could in big trouble and you could have your business potentially closed down until you have a source of hot water, so make sure you have regular boiler checks when possible.
After checking the water, the E.H.O is then likely to ask for your Food Safety Management System and it is so important that you keep yours up to date and signed off.
Walls, ceilings, floors and windows will be then checked for any potential hazards and if they fit the health and safety regulations. Then separate washing facilities will also be inspected so it’s important that you have separate areas for food washing, pot washing and hand washing.
You will then be checked on how well your business is designed for efficient and safe food production. Things like can deliveries be put away easily and quickly will be checked and whether the deliveries are near your waste areas.
The best thing to do if you are unsure about any of these things is to ask your E.H.O and they will be happy to give you advice. Remember they are there for your business, not to close you down.
Staff training records will be checked and the personal hygiene of staff will be checked so make sure that any bad habits have been cut out and that your staff has brilliant personal hygiene and they are wearing the correct uniforms.
Finally food safety hazards will be checked and they come in four categories:
- Physical – hair, cardboard, skin flakes etc
- Chemical – Detergent, Disinfectant, Fly Spray etc
- Bacterial – E-Coli, Salmonella etc
- Allergen – Nuts, wheat etc
A simple ‘product contains’ list can neutralise any problems with allergies, as the majority of customers who have an allergy will ask if the food contains what they are allergic to. You then have to make sure you do things like using separate utensils to avoid cross contamination when preparing or cooking.
