Food safety - your responsibilities

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Food safety

If your business deals in food you must:

  • make sure food is safe to eat
  • make sure you do not add, remove or treat food in a way that makes it harmful to eat
  • make sure the food is the same quality that you say it is
  • make sure you do not mislead people by the way food is labelled, advertised or marketed
  • keep records on where you got food from and show this information on demand - known as ‘traceability’ (PDF, 90KB)
  • withdraw unsafe food and complete an incident report
  • tell people why food has been withdrawn or recalled, for example by using a leaflet or poster
  • display your food hygiene rating (if you sell food direct to the public)

Food additives

If you use an additive in food you must:

The approved additive or E number must not exceed the maximum permitted level.