Food safety regulations
What we do
- Provide advice and information on food safety and labelling
- Carry out food inspections in the borough and take enforcement action where necessary
- Investigate complaints about food and hygiene standards in food businesses
- Investigate infectious diseases and serious cases of food poisoning
- Respond to food alerts about potentially unsafe food, from the Food Standards Agency
- Carry out programmed food sampling from businesses to ensure the food they provide is safe and correctly labelled
- Keep a public register of all food businesses in the borough
- Hold regular food hygiene training courses
- Issue premises approvals for certain food operations
View the register of food premises in Waltham Forest
Food Law Enforcement Service Plan
- Food Law Enforcement Service Plan 2012/2013 (113KB PDF file)
- Food Safety Enforcement Policy (48KB PDF file)
Food and agriculture
This Council has the following standards in relation to Food and Animal Health and Agriculture:
Food
We aim to ensure that:
- Food businesses are registered
- Food is correctly labelled and described and meets quality standards
- Manufacturers and retailers of food are regularly inspected
- Restaurants and other food premises meet strict hygiene standards
- Food is safe to eat
Animal health and agriculture
We aim to ensure that:
- disease controls are complied with
- farm animal welfare standards are met
- animal feed and fertilisers are of a satisfactory quality and safe for use
- contingency plans for foot and mouth, rabies, anthrax and other diseases are in place
Further information can be obtained from the following external websites. Alternatively, contact our Food Safety Officers.
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra)
Defra works for the essentials of life - water, food, air, land, people, animals and plants
Trading Standards Central
A one stop shop for consumer protection information in the UK. Provides information for businesses and consumers.
Office of Fair Trading (OFT)
The OFT is designed with two purposes: to protect consumers and explain their rights; and to ensure that businesses compete and operate fairly.
Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)
Working with businesses, employees and consumers to drive up UK productivity and competitiveness to deliver prosperity for all.
Food Standards Agency (FSA)
An independent food safety watchdog set up by an Act of Parliament in 2000 to protect the public's health and consumer interests in relation to food.
