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Advice and guidance for new and existing food businesses

If you are thinking about setting up a new food business then this section is for you. Here you can get access to food business registration forms and general advice about who to contact when looking to set up a new food business.

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Where can I get advice and guidance for my food business?

In all cases, when the council's food services officers visit businesses, they may identify shortfalls in legal compliance, give instruction and guidance on how to meet legal requirements and may make other good practice recommendations to help businesses maintain high standards.

To help food businesses set-up, start off and maintain food operations that meet the minimum legal requirements, we have prepared a signposting document to give East Riding food business operators easy access to a wide range of on-line advice and guidance.

Registering, Starting-up and Running a Food Business (v10) (pdf 983kb)

The council also produces a range of advice notes covering more specific information on particular food safety issues.

Businesses requiring more detailed advice and direct assistance may need to seek this through trade associations, industry specialists or private sector consultant services. Alternatively, if such substantial advice is sought from food services officers this may be provided on a full cost recovery basis for officer time and travel, for example, this may include matters such as the following:

  • Food Standards Labelling Compliance Reviews
  • Consultation on premises design and equipment installation
  • Allergen Management consultations/visits
  • Consultation on food/feed safety management procedures and review of HACCP plans.

Do I need to register my food business/food activities with the council?

Registration applies to most types of food business/food activities, including catering businesses run from home and mobile or temporary premises, such as stalls and vans.

Food businesses in the East Riding must register with the council at least 28 days before opening - this is a legal requirement, but registration is free.

If you have more than one premises, you will need to register each separately.

However, some food activities that are low risk, simple and/or only take place infrequently do not need to register, but the organisers still have a duty to ensure food and drink supplied is safe. The tables below give examples of the registration requirements for community food activities.

Examples of food activities unlikely to require registration
1 A one-off event such as a church or school fete, or a street party. Organisers of large community events should read the Food Standards Agency - Providing food at community and charity events (external website) and/or contact the local authority for practical advice. Where several large events might be organised within a year, especially with complex food safety controls, then a ‘degree of organisation’could be involved which requires registration.
2 Daily small-scale provision in the weekday afternoons of low-risk foods by community / charity volunteers such as provision of tea and biscuits in church halls. This is because it is low-risk and small-scale provision. However, if complex food safety controls are in place or high-risk foods are served then registration would be required.
3 School breakfast club where volunteers supply simple breakfast foods like toast and cereal and orange juice which is given to children and/or toddlers for two or three hours each day during term-time. The food provided is low-risk (even though infants are the target consumer) and small-scale. School kitchens will already be registered with the LA as food businesses, so if breakfast food is supplied by the school kitchen’s staff then this should be considered as part of the kitchen’s business activity.
4 A village hall event held about six times per year where a two course hot meal is served to about sixty people including elderly persons. The food is cooked at home by volunteers and is reheated in the hall kitchen prior to consumption. As with Example 1, organisers of large community events should read the Food Standards Agency - Providing food at community and charity events (external website) and / or contact the local authority for practical advice. Where several large events might be organised within a year, especially with complex food safety controls, then a ‘degree of organisation’ could be involved which requires registration.
5 A small food bank operating for just an hour or two per day on an infrequent basis by volunteers collecting tinned and packaged foodstuffs not requiring temperature control donated by for distribution to local needy people. The holding of such food is relatively low-risk. Food banks should ensure ‘best before’ dates are kept to and food is stored so that the packaging does not degrade. Further advice on ‘use by’ dates can be found in the Food Standards Agency - Guidance on Food safety for community cooking and food banks (external website). Food banks operating regularly collecting and distributing sandwiches or storing food requiring temperature control are likely to require registration.
6 Scout or Guide camp lasting a few days at a time and cooking food.
7 Infrequent provision of food by members of a club or society for their shared consumption at a private event.
8 Amateur drama group serving food for audiences for limited periods. However, amateur drama groups staging shows for longer periods, or on a monthly or more frequent basis where (e.g.) hot food is served should be considered as having ‘continuity’. Organisers of infrequent community events involving large numbers of consumers may wish to contact the local authority for practical food hygiene advice.

Examples of extended community food provision that is likely to require registration due to the complexity and scale of the provision
A Monthly provision of food requiring more complex safety control such as temperature control and / or cooking.
B A community café opening for three days per week on a pay-what-you-can basis offering food which has been donated by other businesses and by individuals. The fact that the food has been donated does not affect the consideration in this case.
C A sports club serving hot meals regularly during the season (e.g. an amateur football club serving food every other Saturday from September through to May to club members and visitors).
D Volunteers serving hot soup and sandwiches on regular basis to homeless and other potentially vulnerable people.
E A small community centre supplying approximately a dozen persons with free hot food for two lunchtimes per week. Some of the food has been prepared by volunteers at home.

Registering a food business

Advice and guidance can be found in the Food Services signposting document:

Registering, Starting-up and Running a Food Business (pdf 984kb)

You can apply to register your food business online:

Apply to register your food business

The food business register is a public document that lists most of the food businesses in the East Riding.

How and when will my food business be inspected?

All food businesses are subject to inspection when they start trading and at regular intervals afterward, according to the risk they present.

Find out more about food safety inspections and food standards inspections.

Do I need food hygiene training and where can I find it?

If you run, or plan to run a food business it is essential that you and your staff have a good understanding of food hygiene.

Advice and guidance on food safety training can be found in the ‘People’ and ‘FSA training resources’ pages of our signposting document, Registering, Starting-up and Running a Food Business.

The following document provides a current list of local food hygiene training providers within the East Riding.

List of food hygiene training providers (pdf 66kb)

Where can I get food allergen control and labelling advice?

Find out more about Food allergen management, control and communication.

Where can I get food safety advice?

To help food businesses set-up, start-off and maintain food operations that meet the minimum legal requirements, we have prepared a signposting document, Registering, Starting-up and Running a Food Business to give East Riding food business operators easy access to a wide range of online advice and guidance.

The council also produces a range of advice notes covering more specific information on particular food safety issues which can be accessed below:

Where can I get food labelling advice?

The council is committed to helping food businesses by providing links to the main guidance for food labelling and allergen information.

Find out more about food allergen management, control and communication, including the labelling requirements for ‘Prepacked for Direct Sale’ (PPDS) foods and the food services sign-posting guidance document.

We have also provided links to other sector and product specific labelling guidance below:

Business type

Food and drink

For a guide to what the law says on preparing and selling food and drink, including hygiene, composition, labelling and packing:

Business companion - Food and drink quick guide (external website)

Allergens

For advice on guidance on implementing, promoting and complying with the allergen legislation:

Food Standards Agency - Allergens information and guidance (external website)

Catering

For advice on the essentials of food labelling for caterers, including some commonly misdescribed examples:

Business companion - Food labelling for caterers (external website)

Fruit and vegetables

For a guide to the essentials of food labelling for the greengrocer, including the use of variety and organic:

Business companion - Food labelling for greengrocers (external website)

Meat

For a guide to the food labelling essentials that a butcher needs to know, including composition of meat products:

Business companion - Food labelling for butchers (external website)

Fish

For legal names of species and use of industry specific terms to help fishmongers with labelling:

Business companion- Food labelling for fishmongers (external website)

Baking

For the food-labelling essentials that a baker needs to know, including meat pies and sausage rolls:

Business companion- Food labelling for bakers (external website)

Herbal medicine and health foods

For advice on how the law applies to products sold in herbal medicine and health shops including food supplements, cosmetics and products of animal origin:

Business companion- Herbal medicine and health food shop (external website)

Product type

Pre-packed food

For the labelling requirements for packaged food products, including claims and nutritional labelling:

Business companion - Labelling of prepacked foods (external website)

Sweets

For advice on labelling of sweets including the specific rules for chocolate:

Business companion - Labelling of sweets (external website)

Beef

For advice on the EU Compulsory Beef Labelling Scheme:

Business companion - Labelling of beef (external website)

Composition of meat

For guidance on the difference between meat and meat products, and what is meant by a reserved description:

Business companion - Composition of meat products (external website)

Preserves

For guidance on the rules for the labelling and composition of jam, marmalade, mincemeat and other similar products:

Business companion - Labelling of jam and similar products (external website)

Honey

For information about the labelling requirements for honey producers:

Business companion - Labelling of honey (external website)

Sandwiches

For sandwich labelling information:

Business companion - Sandwich labelling (external website)

Eggs (direct sale)

For guidance on labelling for egg producers who sell directly to the consumer:

Business companion - Egg producers selling directly to consumer (external website)

Eggs (retail sale)

For the specific requirements of the marking of eggs for the retail sales, including descriptions and size:

Business companion - Retail sale and labelling of egg (external website)

Freezing Foods

Guidance on bulk freezing foods originally intended to be supplied as ambient or chilled products.

Food Standards Agency - Freezing Foods (external website)

Weights and measures labelling

We offer information for ensuring the weights and measures on your labels are accurate on the calibration weights and measures page.

If you are a newly registered food business (registered within the previous year) and are unable to find the answer to your query in the guidance below please contact the food standards team:

Email: food.services@eastriding.gov.uk

Further Advice

If you are a newly registered food business (registered within the previous year) and are unable to find the answer to your query in the guidance below please contact the food standards team:

Email: food.services@eastriding.gov.uk

Where can I find out about Export Health Certificates?

Read more about Export Health Certificates.

How can I access the food services newsletter (Food Focus)?

Food Focus is our free newsletter produced by the council's food services team.

The newsletter provides advice on current food safety and standards issues, whilst also providing information about activities within the team.

Subscribe

Subscribe to receive issues of Food Focus

Unsubscribe

Send an email with your name and type 'Unsubscribe - Food Focus' in the subject box to:

Email: food.services@eastriding.gov.uk

Issues

How do I develop a food safety management system, such as 'Safer Food Better Business'?

'Safer Food Better Business' is a free food safety management system created by the Food Standards Agency. It is designed to help small food businesses manage food safety and comply with the law. The pack can be downloaded via the link below:

Food Standards Agency - 'Safer Food Better Business' (external website)

Which other council services should I contact to make sure my business is being run correctly?

You may need to contact several other services to help you run your business correctly.

Examples of other services you may need to contact include:

What documents does the food services team produce about their performance?

Reports regarding the performance of the food services team can be accessed below:

Where can I find guidance on the import, export and distribution of food?

For further information see:

GOV.UK - Producing and distributing food Import, export and distribution of food: detailed information (external website)

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