Essentially Local May-June 2019

Professional
Don’t Take the Risk with Food
The great British summertime brings events attracting
thousands of people as well as smaller community
events.
You will find plentiful supplies of food and drink at
these events, but what do you know about the people
selling your snacks? The law says that whether or not
you buy food from a catering van or from a charity
bake sale, the food supplied to you must be safe to
eat and comply with EU food law.
If you are at an event all catering vans and food
operators selling, cooking, storing or handling,
preparing or distributing food will have to be
registered with the Council. They are obliged to make
food allergy information available and if you or a
friend suffers from a food allergy they should be able
to give you the information you need.
If you are attending a community or charity event,
where the food has been provided on a small
scale, the supplier of that food may not need to
be registered as a food premises. There may be no
requirement on them to provide allergy information,
although the
Food Standards
Agency suggest
that this is best
practice.
If you are
attending
an event this
summer - don’t
take any chances,
ask about
allergens.
If you do have
any issues you
should report
them to Trading
Standards by
calling 03454
040506.
Claire Kendall, Trading Standards, Milton Keynes
50
Please mention Essentially Local when responding to advertisers