Legislation and guidance

Legislation aims to protect consumers from illness, death or injury and to ensure that food is nutritious and safe to eat. Employers must ensure that anyone who deals with food as part of their work is given training appropriate to the work they do.

This applies to health trusts and care environments. But, remember you are personally accountable for your actions and omissions in practice.

Some of the legislation that you need to be aware of includes:

• Regulation (EC) No.852/2004 on the hygiene of foodstuffs.
• and The Food Hygiene (England) (No. 2) Regulations 2005 (and equivalent in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland).
• The safer foods for better business (SFBB) website produced by the Foods Standards Agency helps companies comply with the law in England. It contains training materials on good practice and information on subjects such as legislation and related documentation. It also contains supplements relating to care environments.