Advice, Guidance and Service Requests
Officers in the Health, Safety and Food Team are readily available to offer advice to customers on food related issues. We also encourage our customers to take an active role in reporting food businesses, within Bath and North East Somerset, that have poor food safety practices.
Throughout the year we receive such service requests from customers, and regularly carry out investigations into requests raised.
Service requests we investigate include:
- sightings of vermin or pests on food premises
- poor levels of cleanliness in kitchens, store rooms or preparation rooms
- poor food handling practices
If customers have bought an item of food that they believe is contaminated in some way, we will also investigate those concerns. Some examples of things that might be investigated include:
- Foods containing foreign bodies (e.g., stones, glass, insects, hair, plasters, cigarette ends etc.)
- Food that is out of condition (e.g. mouldy, rotten, off-smelling etc)
- Food that is out of date (e.g. beyond its use by date)
The Council will only investigate complaints about food businesses, which relate to food safety. Our role is not to seek compensation and we cannot be involved in any financial aspect of the complaint.
We therefore cannot investigate complaints about the price of food, or poor customer service. However Trading Standards may be able to assist with this type of complaint.
Making a Service Request
The Food Team welcomes requests from businesses and members of the public. To make a request please contact the team by telephone on 01225 477508 or email public_protection@bathnes.gov.uk . If you are contacting this service by email please leave a phone number so we can contact you.
For example requests include the following:
- complaints about a Food business
- requests to bring in a food sample
- registering a new food business
- requests for advice and guidance
- request a publication produced by the council
- request for information on a notice served
- Freedom of Information (FOI) requests