Down

The Council had reviewed the authorisation of its officers, engaged in food law enforcement, to ensure that they were appropriately authorised to exercise the powers within the Food Hygiene Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006, which provide for enforcement of some of the new Community Regulations relating to food hygiene. The revised authorisations did not include reference to the Official Feed and Food Control Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006, which provide enforcement powers in respect of the Community Regulation relating to import of products not of animal origin.

The Council had revised its documented procedures relating to formal food law enforcement activities; however these procedures did not fully reflect the requirements of the new Hygiene Regulations and procedures were not in place to cover the full range of enforcement activities.

The Council had developed and implemented a procedure for the approval of premises that require approval under Community Regulation (EC) 853/2004 and was in the process of approving the standalone coldstore in its area in accordance with the requirements of the Community Regulations and the Food Law Code of Practice (Northern Ireland) and associated Practice Guidance.

File records maintained by the Council in respect of the standalone coldstore were very detailed in nature and contained the majority of the information recommended in the Food Law Practice Guidance (Northern Ireland).

A reality check conducted at the standalone coldstore in the councils area indicated that the Food Service’s decision to recommend approval by the Council was correct and the responsible officer had a sound understanding of the Food Business Operator’s food safety systems.