Food safety

We are responsible for enforcing food hygiene laws and can inspector your business at any point in the food production and distribution process.

We will visit your premises to make sure you're complying with food law and producing food that's safe to eat. We'll look at:

• your premises
• how you work
• your food safety management system
• the types of food you make and prepare

We can visit your premises for several reasons, including:

• food hygiene and food standards inspections
• sampling
• complaint follow-up
• advisory visits

We have the right to enter your premises at any reasonable time - we will usually arrive without making an appointment.

How often you'll be routinely inspected depends on your business type and your previous record - some premises can be inspected every six months, others much less often.

We will offer you help and advice on food safety. We can take action if we find that your standards of food hygiene are not good enough - in serious cases, this can include closing the premises or prosecution.

Enforcement action

We can take enforcement action to protect the public. This can include:

• seizing foods suspected to be unfit for human consumption
• writing you a letter following an inspection or outlining issues with compliance and asking you to correct these
• serving a formal legal notice that sets out certain things you must do or forbidding you from using certain processes, premises or equipment
• recommending a prosecution in serious cases

We will allow you enough time to make changes unless there is an immediate risk to public health.

View our Food Law Enforcement Policy

We share our food safety service with Peterborough City Council - email the team for advice at foodsafety@peterborough.gov.uk or call 01733 207 184.

Find out more about food safety on the Food Standards Agency website