Food Premise Inspections

We inspect most of the food premises in Torfaen on a regular basis, in order to ensure that they all comply with the law and sell safe food. To do this, we follow the requirements of the Food Standards Agency Code of Practice, which lays down when and how we should inspect food businesses.

Our inspection programme is based on a number of factors, such as whether a business is selling high risk foods, how many customers they have and our confidence in their management. This means that some premises will be inspected every 6 months, whilst other premises may only be inspected every 3 years, and we have specific dates that each premises must have been inspected by.

There are some premises that we may not inspect, such as childminders, as these are not required to be on our database. We also exclude some very low risk premises, and we take alternative action to get information from these businesses and to pass on advice.

We generally carry out our inspections unannounced and when the food premises is open for business, so that we can see what premises are like when they are selling food to their customers. We have the legal right to enter food businesses at any appropriate time, although we will try to visit at a time that is also suitable for the business.

Unless we think there is a serious problem that may result in serious illness or injury, we will generally:

• Inspect at a time that is convenient for the business concerned (this also makes it easier for us to carry out our inspection)
• Introduce ourselves, and make sure there is someone around who is able to speak to us on behalf of the company and give us the information we need.
• Take someone from the business around with us during the inspection so that we can show them what we find and discuss any work that needs to be done
• Inform the proprietor of the business in writing of any contravention’s found, what action they are required to take and the time-scale for this work. We will also make recommendations if we see anything that would help to improve the way their business complies with the law.

In most instances, we give advice to businesses, and we may write to confirm any problems that we find. In serious cases, we can serve a notice requiring action to be taken, and we can prosecute and temporarily close a premises where standards are very poor.

The FSA Code of Practice is available on their website.