Making a complaint about an item of food
About this service
If you have bought an item of food that you believe is contaminated in some way, the Food Safety Team will investigate your complaint.
Some examples of things that we investigate include:
- Foods containing foreign bodies (eg stones, glass, insects, hair, plasters, cigarette ends etc)
- Food that is out of condition (eg mouldy, rotten, off-smelling etc)
- Food that is out of date
Discovering a foreign object in food is a very unpleasant experience. However, not all pose a serious health risk, and we will not:
- Automatically submit the complaint to the Analyst or Manufacturer. Where food complaints are to be sent for analysis (either by a public analyst or the manufacturer) they will be sent in a manner appropriate to ensure continuity of evidence
- Enter into negotiations regarding any compensation claims made by the complainant
- Investigate anonymous complaints unless there is a clear and imminent threat to public health, or where an officer is already aware of the issue raised.
Where foods commonly contain contaminants (eg slugs in vegetables) or where the contamination is not serious (eg mould on fruit) then we are unlikely to undertake an investigation.
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North
Contact Details
Email: publicprotectionnorth@wiltshire.gov.uk
Telephone: 01249 706111
Fax: 01249 443158
Postal Address:
Public Protection (North)
Wiltshire Council
Monkton Park
Chippenham
SN15
1ER
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South
If you have purchased food that you are not happy with and you either feel that it is of a serious nature, or you have not received a satisfactory response from the supplier or retailer concerned, please bring the food in its original packaging to our Pennyfarthing House office. If you are not able to bring the food to the offices, please contact environmental Services to discuss collection arrangements.
Contact Details
Email: publicprotectionsouth@wiltshire.gov.uk
Telephone: 01722 434319 or 01722 434320
Postal Address:
Public Protection (South)
Wiltshire Council
PO Box 2126
Salisbury
SP2
2DJ
In Person:
Revenues & Benefits
Wiltshire Council
27-29 Milford Street
Salisbury
Wiltshire
SP1 2AP
Some services differ based on where you live. Why is this?
East
On discovering a problem with food you should:
Keep possession of the food. It is your evidence of the complaint.
Contact the Environmental Health Department as soon as possible by telephoning 01380 724911
In most cases an officer will be able to collect the source of complaint from your home. Food officers are not always in the office, but if you wish to deliver the source of the complaint to us, please let us know so we can ensure your complaint can be dealt with.
Please do not send food complaints to us in the post
Keep any till receipts you may have or make a note of the time and date when you purchased the food.
Retain any labels, codes or containers associated with the food. (These are important to enable investigators to trace production dates and times etc.)
Try to preserve the complaint in its original condition. e.g. if you can see something in a food product don’t remove it but leave it in place. If a product is mouldy or you think it may be unfit, place the item in a plastic bag or suitable container and freeze it as soon as you can.
Whilst you are waiting for the complaint article to be collected you should keep it in the fridge or freezer.
What we CAN do
If the foodstuff was prepared by a premises in the Kennet District we will visit the premises to investigate the complaint. If the foodstuff was prepared elsewhere we will liaise with the relevant local authority who may carry out an investigation on our behalf. We may send the food away to be examined. Any actions that we take are to ascertain whether there has been a breach of food hygiene legislation.
What we CANNOT do
The Council cannot obtain compensation on your behalf. We may not be able to return the food to you at the end of our investigation as it may have been destroyed during analysis. Consequently if your wish is purely for a refund or compensation then you should retain the foodstuff and contact the retailer or obtain legal advice on how to take your own action.
Contact Details
Email: publicprotectioneast@wiltshire.gov.uk
Telephone: 01380 734721
Postal Address:
Public Protection (East)
Wiltshire Council
Browfort
Bath
Road
Devizes
SN10
2AT
Some services differ based on where you live. Why is this?
West
Step 1
Bring the affected food to the council offices at Bradley Road. Ask to speak to a member of the Food Safety Team. If possible bring the food in its original container and bring the receipt for the food if you have one. If the item of food is one of a number of units (eg one carton of yogurt from a pack of four) it is useful to have these as well. If you are not able to bring the food to the offices then we can arrange to collect it from you.
Step 2
You will be asked to complete a form that asks you for your name, address and telephone numbers. We also record where you bought the food and whether you would be prepared to make a written statement about the contaminated food. We are unable to act on anonymous complaints however we can guarantee that your name will not be disclosed to anybody unless you give us permission to do so.
Step 3
The item of food will be photographed by us (if it is highly perishable) and kept secure by us during our investigation. We will contact the retailer, manufacturer and the Food Safety Team in the area that the food was made. We will assess whether an offence has been committed under the food safety legislation. The investigation will usually take a month to fully investigate.
Step 4
You will be notified of the outcome of the investigation. If an offence has been committed you may be asked to complete a witness statement or even attend a court hearing. However, this is a very rare occurrence.
About Food Premises
We will investigate complaints about food premises only if the safety of food is affected.
Things that we will investigate include:
- people smoking in food rooms
- pets or animals in food rooms
- sightings of vermin or pests in food premises
- poor levels of cleanliness in food rooms
- poor food handling practices
Contact Details
Email: publicprotectionwest@wiltshire.gov.uk
Telephone: 01225 776655
Postal Address:
Public Protection (West)
Wiltshire Council
Bradley Road
Trowbridge
Wiltshire
BA14
0RD
Some services differ based on where you live. Why is this?
Last updated: 24 August 2009