toddlermaddness Posted January 15, 2012 Share Posted January 15, 2012 Need a little help here...... we are now going to be serving the children more than just fruit and toast. We will now be serving pasta, beans on toast, cheese on toast, spaghetti etc.... Do I need to contact HSE (Health and Safety Executive) and do we need a certificate? We have one member of staff who has recently attended food safety in catering. Would be great to hear what other pre-schools think. Look forward to hearing from you all Thanks in advance Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 15, 2012 Share Posted January 15, 2012 I would say so as you are serving hot food our authority still inspect us even though we do not serve hot food but we dont get a certificate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deb Posted January 15, 2012 Share Posted January 15, 2012 Yes, we've just been inspected by our local environmental health services, by an Environmental Health Technical Officer, to be exact and we serve the same food as you. In our case the inspection was carried out by a woman who applied commonsense, she was very approachable and not at all officious, basically it's nothing to worry about but then we did get the highest rating - it helped that her son attended a nursery and she valued the activities we do with children. So suggest you get in touch with your local environmental health department. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inge Posted January 15, 2012 Share Posted January 15, 2012 all settings should already be registered with their local environmental health dept. We were told even if we only supply a glass of water we had to be registered. This came in a few years ago now and out authority sent everyone the forms to do. it used to be the building that was registered and this changed to individual groups, so could be 4 groups using one hall but all had to register. No one ever came to visit us but I did check and we were registered. A food handling course may be needed for all who are preparing the food in addition to this though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lashes2508 Posted January 15, 2012 Share Posted January 15, 2012 Now you have me worried, as far as i know we have no register for this - will check tomorrow , i thought common sense and abiding by food safety regs was enough especially as our children help prepare snack with adult. mmm food for thought , we serve hot snacks and have all this week although i will be going back to fruit and veg mostly with other snacks on a less regular basis , I do know that you cannnot reheat any meals bought in by children as you do not know if they have been reheated already, is this registration just for certain areas ?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 15, 2012 Share Posted January 15, 2012 You should definetly contact your local EHO as I had to be reinspected when we wanted to be able to heat food for a particular child. She needed to check all kitchen facilities eg microwave, fridge, she checked my food safety certificate and that I had a suitable food temperature probe and that food temperatures were satisfactorily logged. Better to be safe than sorry and them turn up for a spot check and find you have changed things without notification Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deb Posted January 15, 2012 Share Posted January 15, 2012 Our local EHO contacted us to do a health and safety inspection and then contacted us to do a food hygiene inspection - suggest you phone your local EHO to check with them directly and record the discussion/their name so you have a record of the discussion. We were considered low risk because of the nature of the food we provide. Only two members of our staff have food hygiene certificates. The EHO gave us a copy of the booklet - Safer food, better business (for childminders) folder which was useful to go through as a staff team to make sure we were working to a good standard, it's not a very large document. We found a few things that we weren't doing such as washing towels and tea towels at 60C (well two of us weren't anyway), and we simply recorded what action we had taken in the diary at the back. Not sure where you would get a copy from but I expect it could be typed into Google. Make sure you get the one for childminders though - the folder for larger businesses would make your knees knock! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finleysmaid Posted January 15, 2012 Share Posted January 15, 2012 fyi i have just registered as we moved over the summer. You need to be registered (as above) even if you serve a biscuit from a packet!! the safer food better business pack is available from the food standards agency and we were required to get one and read through it before our inspection. We had to show the chap our certificates and explain how we deal with pests ( a problem in our area due to the river!). You are required to record your fridge temperatures daily and provide suitable hand wash facilities with anti-bac soap(for adults NOT children)...chopping boards will need to be colour coded if you are dealing with any meat products. Dont panis just contact them and they will come and see you, as said you are a low risk catagory so everything should be fine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inge Posted January 15, 2012 Share Posted January 15, 2012 it was for all areas.. cannot find the reference to it but was about 2006 I seem to recall.. I know it was well discussed on here so will try to find the threads... it costs nothing to register and in our case they did not visit.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lashes2508 Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 Thanks - another job to do - i am sure the hall has been registered but not each group that uses the hall - i know how much work is involved as our legion has had a new kitchen and so we have been through the business process - I might just hang on til we get the new fridge !!! - on to it straight away thanks again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toddlermaddness Posted January 16, 2012 Author Share Posted January 16, 2012 thanks for all your replys will be looking at this more over this week. Will let you know how i get on. Thanks again guys....... not sure what i would do without this site Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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