Food Safety, hygiene, standards and labelling: an explainer

Use this page to learn about food safety regulations, why we have them, and how we, as your local council, monitor food businesses, to protect your safety and consumer rights.

There is a huge amount of legal regulation covering how businesses can prepare, label, sell or serve the food we buy. This applies whether your food comes from a street-side stall, a supermarket, a local cafe or a five-star restaurant.

On this page, you'll find information and guidance to better understand food labelling, and prepare and enjoy food safely at home.

Select a topic below to learn more. 

Food hygiene

What it means

Food hygiene covers practices you should follow to prevent most common food safety problems. It sets out basic guidance for cooking, cleaning, chilling and cross-contamination, to help you prepare and store food safely.

Why it's important

Without good food hygiene, the chances of getting food poisoning or foodborne illness are much higher. The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has detailed guidance on how to handle the most common foods at home safely.

How we monitor and enforce it

We monitor and inspect food businesses, and use the Food Hygiene Rating Scheme to score the quality of food hygiene conditions found. Ratings go from 0 (urgent improvement required) to 5 (very good). When the rating is very low, and we consider that the business represents a danger to public health, we ensure that improvements are made, which can include stopping a business from operating. We encourage businesses to display their food hygiene rating where customers can see it. Businesses can only apply for a re-scoring when they have completed the works that we have required and demonstrated ongoing good standards. 

Food safety

What it means

Food safety covers all areas of creating, preparing, storing, packaging and serving food that may have an impact on whether that food is safe for you to eat. Food hygiene is just one part of food safety. This broad area also includes things like:

• 'Best before' and 'Use by' labelling and stock control (so customers can see the date they should consume the food by)
• Food additives and their safety
• Accurate labelling of allergens 
• How producers may manipulate food (such as producing genetically modified, or GM, foods)

The Food Standards Agency produce a detailed guide on food safety for consumers.

Why it's important

Food safety helps us to avoid food poisoning or foodborne illness, but also to have a clear idea of what food contains, and some assurance of its ingredients and quality. It means we can make choices about the food we eat, confident that we are avoiding things that we are allergic to, or choose not to eat for religious or ethical reasons. 

How we monitor and enforce it

As well as using the Food Hygiene Rating Scheme to score how businesses are storing, preparing and serving food, we can also investigate complaints from customers relating to food safety, or trading standards. 

Food standards

What it means

Food standards aim to ensure that the food you eat is what it says it is. This includes things like:

• the way the food is grown, produced or processed
• the accuracy of claims such as '100% British beef', 'hand made' or 'not made from concentrate'
• whether it contains regulated or restricted products, such as colourings, flavourings and other additives
• whether any part of the food has been genetically modified (GM)
• whether the food meets religious or ethical standards (such as halal, vegetarian/vegan, or locally-sourced)

Why it's important

Food standards mean you can trust the food you're eating. This goes beyond food safety, to food quality. Having a robust system of enforcing food standards is essential:

• to enable consumers to make choices about the food you buy and eat
• to protect the authenticity and viability of traditional, regional and specialist food production

How we monitor and enforce it

We can enforce regulations around a variety of factors that affect food quality, such as how food is imported, exported or transported, and whether the ingredients and processes to produce the food meet current legislation. If you have concerns about a food business or producer breaking the law, you can contact our Food Safety team. 

Food labelling and packaging

What it means

Food labelling includes:

• food packaging, such as boxes, cartons, tins and bags
• printed labels on commercially produced food 
• menus and noticeboards in cafes, pubs and restaurants
• signage describing unpackaged food on sale at stalls, festivals and markets

See our page on food standards and labelling for consumers, for more detail on what's included in the regulations.

Why it's important

The UK government provides clear guidance for food businesses about UK law on food packaging and labelling. Accurate food labelling protects you as a customer, by doing the following:

• giving guidance on how to store and prepare the food safely
• letting you know how long the food will stay fresh and be safe to eat
• giving detailed nutritional information, so you can make informed choices about your diet
• clearly indicating allergens, to protect against dangerous reactions
• giving clear information about food quality, such as the source of ingredients, and how the food has been prepared, so you can decide if it is suitable for you
• letting you know who has produced the food,  including contact details, if you have a query or problem

How we monitor and enforce it

If you have a concern about inaccurate or illegal food labelling, you can contact the Food Standards Agency Food Crime Unit, or report the issue to Trading Standards.