Food safety service

Through its Food Law Code of Practice, revised in 2017, the Food Standards Agency (FSA)  requires each regulatory authority to prepare, adopt and regularly review a Food Safety Service Plan. The food safety service has written a service plan that has been produced as required by the FSA framework agreement on local authority food law enforcement. It is written in the format prescribed by the FSA, its purpose being to demonstrate that East Cambridgeshire District Council has in place adequate and effective arrangements to meet its statutory obligations in respect of food safety.

The FSA recognised the impact that the Covid-19 pandemic had on food business operations and officer workload. The food safety service has been able to fully revert back to the pre-covid model for the programme of food hygiene inspections, following the requirements of the food law code of practice.

The plan covers both the regulatory and support work undertaken by the Environmental Health Service to protect the public health in East Cambridgeshire in respect of the food chain, whether they work in food business or are a food consumer. Whilst it was written as a five-year document, it is reviewed annually and includes elements of review as well as setting out the work for the coming year.

View the food and safety service plan 2021 to 2024 (PDF) 

The council's commercial team are responsible for:

  • enforcing food safety legislation in around 880 premises 
  • registering and keeping an up-to-date register of food businesses 
  • approving establishments that require approval and ensuring these feature on the Food Standards Agency website 
  • following up complaints about food sold or manufactured and concerns about food hygiene in the district 
  • taking samples of food, water and the environment for microbiological examination and chemical analysis 

View the food safety enforcement policy (PDF)