Our Food Safety team is responsible for:

• Routinely inspecting food businesses
• Butchers licensing
• Investigating complaints about food premises or food products
• Investigating cases of food poisoning and other infectious diseases
• Registration of food premises

Food Safety in the home

Follow these essential rules for safe food preparation:

Storage of food

• Never leave perishable foods unrefrigerated for prolonged periods. 
• Always check the label on packaging, if food needs to be refrigerated keep it in the fridge.
• Make sure your fridge is operating correctly.  Foods should ideally be kept between 2°C and 5°C.
• Cooked leftovers should be cooled quickly and stored in the fridge.
• Keep raw meat, poultry and eggs separate from other food items. 
• Store raw meat and poultry at the bottom of the fridge so they can't drip onto other foods (beware of protecting items in any salad tray below).

Preparation

• Food poisoning from cooked foods often occurs as a result of cross-contamination from raw foods.  Therefore:
• Prepare raw and cooked food separately.
• Always wash your hands thoroughly after touching raw food, especially raw meat, poultry and eggs.
• Use different chopping boards/work surfaces for raw food and ready-to-eat food.
• Clean knifes and other utensils thoroughly after use with raw food.
• Keep dishcloths clean and change tea towels and hand towels frequently.
• If you have any cuts or grazes on exposed areas, keep these covered with a waterproof dressing.

Cooking

• Make sure frozen meat and poultry are fully thawed before cooking.
• Ensure the centre is well cooked.  Meat should be cooked until the juices run clear.  No pink meat should be visible in poultry, meat burgers, sausages and mincemeat.
• Do not reheat cooked food more than once.
• Do not use raw eggs in uncooked foods, e.g. home made mayonnaise, tiramisu, mousse etc. 
• Use pasteurised egg or commercially available mayonnaise.

Food poisoning & infectious diseases

If a number of people ate at the same venue and have the same food poisoning-type symptoms, this may be due to a food poisoning outbreak.  If there is evidence to suggest you may have developed food poisoning after eating at a commercial food premises within the London Borough of Redbridge, we will carry out a food hygiene inspection.  Some of the common symptoms of food poisoning include:

• Diarrhoea
• Vomiting
• Nausea
• Abdominal pain
• Fever

If you think you are suffering from food poisoning you must contact your doctor.