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If you run a business that makes or prepares food the council will carry out regular checks on your food business to help you comply with the food hygiene law, to ensure the public is protected and that high standards are maintained.
COVID-19
Following the re-opening of all businesses and the Government's recent confirmation that England will move to Step 4 of the Covid19 Roadmap on 19 July 2021, ourfood safety officers are now resuming unannounced food hygiene inspections for businesses across Wiltshire.
We have continued to work on our inspection programme throughout the pandemic but, by necessity to safeguard both the businesses and our staff, this work has been by prior announcement. The Covid lockdowns have meant that our inspection programme has been delayed and some food inspections are now overdue. We are working in accordance with the Food Standards Agency's national Recovery Plan to get back on track.
Our officers will continue to wear face coverings when they visit food businesses. We will be asking food handlers and other staff present to continue to wear face covers when we meet you indoors during our visit (unless exempt for medical reasons) and to maintain social distancing please. This is to continue to protect the health of your staff and our officers. We look forward to your understanding and support for this.
Once you have registered your food business through New food business advice, we aim to inspect your business within 28 days from the day you start trading.
After your inspection your business is risk rated which will be used to determine how often we carry out a routine food hygiene inspection. Elements of that rating are used to determine your food hygiene rating that is published by the Food Standards agency.
Visits to premises are carried out, as far as possible, unannounced and are prioritised according to the degree of potential risk.
Low risk businesses will be inspected least frequently and high risk most frequently.
Normally an inspection will be unannounced unless you operate from your own home.
Where is it is not possible to carry out an unannounced inspection an officer may make an appointment.
Officers carry out unannounced inspections to ensure they get an accurate impression of how the business operates.
The time between inspections varies from six months for the highest risk businesses to two years for lower risk businesses. For some very low risk businesses, the interval between inspections may be longer than two years.
All registered food businesses will normally receive an inspection, however very low risk businesses may receive a self-assessment questionnaire.
A self-assessment questionnaire allows the Food & Safety Team to assess your food handling activities, any specific food safety advice you might need and whether an officer inspection is an urgent priority. Completing the questionnaire may negate the need for an officer to conduct a physical inspection of your food premises.
Completing the questionnaire may negate the need for an officer to conduct a physical inspection of your food premises. Only businesses which are inpected by visiting can be issued with a food hygiene rating.
Advisory visits, as they are known, are only carried out in exceptional circumstances. In most cases advice can be provided over the phone where it is not available on the internet.
Enforcement in non-compliant food businesses will be carried out in accordance with the Council's Public Protection Enforcement Policy. Public Protections Enforcement Policy.
