Understanding The Basics Of The Different Food Safety Laws And Its Requirements

In an efficient food control system, national legal frameworks are the key pillar. Food is governed in all nations by a number of laws and regulations that set out the demands of the governing body to be met by food chain operators to ensure that the food produced is of adequate quality and is safe and secure for consumption.

"Food law" applies to legislation regulating the manufacturing, trade and handling of food and therefore includes the regulation of food control, food safety and appropriate aspects of trade in food. Few quality requirements are incorporated in the food law to ensure that the food produced is unadulterated and is not subjected to fraudulent practices aimed at deceiving the consumer. Food safety laws cover the entire process starting with provisions for animal feed and on farm controls, food production and processing, final distribution and consumption by the consumers.

As per the food safety laws, food manufacturers must essentially ensure that their products are safe for consumption and will not make people ill. In order to safeguard consumer health, food manufacturing companies must incorporate a food safety plan to meet the different foodsafety laws and regulations. They need to formulate a food safety plan in line with HACCP which stands for Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point with which they can carry out necessary measures concerning:

·      Personal hygiene of their staff

·      Maintaining hygiene during the transportation and distribution of raw materials such as milk packets or containers.

·      Method by which the food products are processed or treated such as using clean equipments to cut bread.

·      Ways by which food products are packaged and labeled.

·      Ways by which the food products manufactured are stored.

The different food safety responsibilities every business should take:

·      All food manufacturing businesses must ensure that the foods manufactured are safe and secure to eat.

·      They should ensure that the food items they produce are not treated in a way that could make them harmful for consumption.

·      They should ensure that fish and other livestock are safely harvested, contain safe ingredients and are free of harmful pathogens.

·      Every food manufacturing business or company should display the food hygiene rating.

·      They should inform the higher authority in case they discover traces of undesirable substances such as pesticide residues, toxic moulds, or harmful bacteria like listeria in the food items.

·      They should withdraw or destroy any unsafe food immediately and report people why the food has been withdrawn through a poster or leaflet.

·      It is very important for the different food manufacturing units to include information about the different additives being added to the food products and should ensure that the additive must not exceed the maximum permitted limit.

·      It is extremely important for all food manufacturing units to maintain accurate records of what they do on a daily basis including ordering histories, task checklists, temperature logs etc.