Like Natasha's Law that precedes it, Owen's Law is a proposed new legislation that has come about following a tragic allergic reaction suffered by a young person. Following Owen Carey's death in 2017, his parents have campaigned for better written communications of allergens on restaurant menus; Owen tragically died after eating a burger that contained buttermilk, despite making restaurant staff aware of his dairy allergy. At the time of writing, Owen's Law is still in development - we look below at progress that has been made so far, and what the proposed new law may mean to the food industry.
The Owen’s Law campaign calls for a series of changes, most significantly that allergy information must be included on menus in all food outlets, including restaurants and cafes, in the UK. As it currently stands, food outlets do not have to include written allergy information on their menus, although this is advised.
The other changes proposed by the campaign include:
Owen's parents have also suggested the development of several easy-to-use tech solutions, including accessible online allergen matrices, a smartphone app, and a personal QR code for allergy sufferers that allows quick and easy access to their allergy information.
This legislation should make dining out a less fraught and hazardous experience for the UK’s approximately two million food allergy sufferers.
Owen's Law has not yet been passed - below is a timeline of the campaign's progress so far...
| January 2020 | Joint response to coroner's report issued by FSA, DEFRA and DHSC |
| April 2021 | The Owen's Law campaign is launched |
| May 2023 | Petition debated in Parliament |
| December 2023 | Formal support received from the FSA, followed later by recommendation that the government adopts legislative changes proposed by the campaign* |
| October 2024 | The FSA launches a consultation to food businesses, consumers and local authorities to share their views on the proposed changes |
| November 2024 | Consultation closed |
| Next steps | We await the FSA's publication of findings from the public consultation, and subsequent steps to define and pass into statute |
The fundamental basis for Owen's Law is to bring about more effective allergen communication in food outlets, from supply, through production, to delivery to the consumer. In food outlets where menu items and ingredients remain the same for a period of time (e.g. chain restaurants), Owen's Law may not be too difficult to implement. However, in more dynamic operations where the menu may change from day to day, and ingredients are very dependent on available supply, seasonality etc., this law represents a potential challenge which will need to be embraced and solved. Communications with suppliers will become increasingly important, as menus will need to reflect ingredients with 100% accuracy, even if a last-minute substitution has been made.
However, the Republic of Ireland already have similar laws to those that have been proposed, and adherence in ROI has shown that these measures can be achieved and work effectively. With good support, sharing of best practice and dedication, the UK food industry can improve safety for allergy sufferers.
In anticipation of the new legislation, it has been recommended that food businesses review their allergen policies and procedures. The Safer Food Group offers two options for food allergy training courses. Level 2 Allergy Awareness is suitable for all food handlers, and explains the fundamentals of food allergies and the key steps to creating safe food for allergy sufferers. Level 3 Allergy Supervisor course explains your legal responsibilities as a food business, and details how to undertake an allergens risk assessment and put the correct processes, procedures and communications in place.
In the UK, by law:
'food business operators must ensure that food handlers receive the appropriate supervision and training in food hygiene, which is in-line with the area they work in and will enable them to handle food in the safest way'*
This can mean that food handlers acquire the skills and knowledge they need through supervision, self study, or using prior knowledge - but in practical terms, most employers and self employed food business operators rely on formal training to ensure their staff operate safely. The standard level of training expected for a food handler in the UK is the Level 2 Food Hygiene certificate (also known as Basic Food Hygiene or Food Safety).
Formal training has a number of advantages - employers can ensure that all team members have learned the same material, to the same standards, creating a common reference point and set of rules. Training courses usually include some kind of formative assessment, so both the learner and employer has an accurate indication of progress. Good training providers often offer a course handbook to take away from your training as reference material. And, once studied, training can be repeated on a regular basis, both to remind and embed knowledge and to introduce new information, for instance the latest legislation or good practice.
Employers also need to decide what format training should take. This is an important decision - the balance of factors including cost, convenience and effectiveness is key. For more information, we've considered the relative merits of different types of training in our blog, 'Which is better - Online or Face to face training'.
Because food safety training is currently advised rather than mandatory, there is no specified validity for Level 2 Food Hygiene certificates. However, in order to keep up with the latest changes in legislation and best practice, it is generally advised by Environmental Health Officers and Practitioners (EHO/EHPs) that these type of courses are renewed every three years. To help you keep up to date with your team's training needs, The Safer Food Group offers businesses renewal data via your business admin dashboard, as well as timely reminders of certificates due to expire.
To renew your Level 2 Food Hygiene training with The Safer Food Group, click here and follow the link to our website.
There's no doubt that an employer's training budget is one of the first to be squeezed in tough economic times. So it's crucial to spend that budget wisely.
One of the key questions we're asked in our roles as education specialists, is 'Which is better - online or face to face training? You may expect us to say online, every time - but that's not necessarily the case. We've broken down some of the key considerations when deciding between training opportunities.
Positives of online training
Break it down; a great way to retain more information is to study in chapters or chunks, allow the information to process, return and review before moving on. Online training allows the learner to progress at their own pace - this is especially important with conditions such as ADHD, which can mean a learner struggles to concentrate for longer periods of time.
Online training is flexible, and allows both night owls and morning larks to study when at their best.
Timing can fit around your work and home schedule. Kids settled in bed - grab a cup of tea and a focused hour of training in the quiet of the evening. Post Christmas slump? Make the most of rota hours and fit training into quiet times.
Well built online training can suit a broad range of different learning styles, with audio, visual and interactive sections
Some online training offers recap quizzes throughout the course - these are a great way to monitor your own progress and spot the areas you need to spend more time on.
Online training is generally more cost effective than face to face, both in terms of price and travel expenses so your training budget can potentially stretch further and offer employees a broader range of opportunities.
Positives of face to face training
Face to face training is great for highly technical subjects and more advanced levels as it offers the opportunity to ask questions and discuss complicated concepts with fellow students
Live training is also really useful for 'soft skills', where role play, feedback and mentorship play an important role in the learning process - good examples of this are customer service and leadership training.
During face to face training, the trainer has the opportunity to check on learners progress, especially helpful when making sure the struggling learner doesn't get left behind.
Learners don't need access to any equipment such as a computer or smartphone - a traditional pen and notepad will do the job.
Questions to ask
Before you purchase training, there are some really crucial questions to ask....
What are your team like? Are they smartphone addicts, adept at scrolling and searching for the information they need online? Or are they more nervous learners, and more comfortable with the guiding hand of a real life trainer?
Is the training engaging, accessible and fun? In all cases - avoid training courses which offer death by powerpoint, or reams of text - both face to face and online trainers can be guilty of this! So much progress has been made in updating teaching techniques, all trainers should be able to embrace new methods and technologies to make their courses as rich and engaging as possible.
Do your team have accessibility requirements - for instance, sight or hearing challenges or learning difficulties? What training courses are available that meet these needs?
In conclusion - there are a number of factors employers must weigh up when choosing the right kind of training for their team. Key considerations are - the type and level of subject matter, how your team learn and your budget. It's likely that a blend of both online and face to face courses, if chosen carefully, will meet your needs most effectively, but don't be afraid to try out different options and see which work best for you.
A team that is well trained in food safety and hygiene is recognised as one of the key indicators of quality in a UK food business. The benefits of well trained staff speak for themselves - reduced food poisoning and allergy incidents and a greater likelihood of a 5-star rating are the big ones. And these benefits in turn can lead to a better reputation and more customers. But we know that increasing pressures on food businesses mean owners and operators are continually looking for ways to reduce costs - and perhaps free food hygiene training could be a way to do that?
At the time of writing, we could not find any genuinely free Level 2 Food Hygiene certificates online for UK operators. Some training providers give free access to learning material, but then request payment for the resulting certificate. This seems like quite a dishonest offer - once you've committed time to the learning material and passed the course, you are more likely to pay for a certificate, even if the quality of learning content is not up to standard. Having undertaken one of these courses, we can confirm that many vital areas of food safety were missed, including contamination and cross-contamination, allergy awareness, using HACCP and FSMS, safe times and temperatures, premises design, and more. There is often an easy way to spot these courses as they are usually advertised as 'Free Level 2 Food Hygiene course plus certificate'. Always read the details!
We did find some free courses offered by the Food Standards Agency (FSA), including a food allergy and a root cause analysis course. These courses are genuinely free - the food allergy course has some interesting information for food manufacturers, especially those in supervisory roles. Worth a look and no paid for certificate at the end! And some learning providers do provide free courses that supplement their course portfolio and offer extra help to their customers. An example of this is The Safer Food Group's free 5-star rating course which assists a food operator to undertake their own safety audit in preparation for an EHO visit.
And speaking of EHO visits... The FSA do not endorse any one food hygiene course or provider - but you can be fairly sure that your EHO will spot a certificate issued by a less scrupulous provider, and will be keen to test that your team genuinely understand their roles and responsibility when it comes to keeping food safe. So, if you are going to invest staff time in training courses, don't waste it on poor quality versions.
Typically, online Level 2 Food Hygiene training in the UK costs around £10 - £25; a higher price is not necessarily a guarantee of better quality. Good indicators of a quality learning course include:
So perhaps a more sensible question should be: Why would I want a free hygiene certificate?
A good quality, EHO approved Level 2 Food Hygiene training course can be obtained for £12 + VAT from The Safer Food Group, with the prices reducing even further for groups of 5 or more. The training takes approximately 3-4 hours for a new learner (experienced staff are likely to refresh their knowledge slightly quicker). Courses include video, fresh graphics, learner interactions and recap quizzes to allow the learner to test their knowledge. The Safer Food Group only delivers courses for the food industry so you can rely on their experience and expertise to get your team up to speed.
It's a small investment for the reassurance of having a team who understand and employ safe working practices, and the investment is rewarded by minimising the risks of food poisoning and allergy incidences.
With the ever rising costs of energy bills, ingredients and wages, running a profitable food business can seem like an impossible task. Rationalising costs becomes a necessity, and can make good business sense - but don't cut corners when it comes to food safety!
Food safety is everyone's business - creating a culture when every member of your team takes responsibility for creating and delivering safe food to your customers will enhance your reputation, and hopefully your profits. It can be tempting to cut back on team training when times are tough. But training is a vital business requirement, so instead of cutting back, look for options that offer you the best value, without reducing quality and effectiveness.
Online safety training can be both effective and great value - if you find the right provider for you. It's important to think about your team; how they operate, how they learn, what style of training is best for them? Are they mobile phone addicts who love to tap on screens and interact with content? Or are they more traditional learners who would prefer printed words and plenty of time to review and digest material?
The Safer Food Group online training has been designed to suit the needs of many different learners. Our new Level 2 Food Hygiene course is full of engaging graphics and interactive content. It can be studied at the learner's pace, and is accompanied by a course booklet to download and keep, as a helpful reminder of the course. To ensure no-one is excluded, our online safety training also features full accessibility features, to suit students with hearing, visual and learning challenges.
The benefits of great training can be seen when your EHO visits. Feeling confident that any member of your team has the right answers to hand and can demonstrate how they put them into practice is priceless. It demonstrates to the EHO that food safety is an integral part of your business, not just a folder full of forms that is completed the day before inspection.
Knowing that they have the skills and knowledge to get food safety right every time helps reduce your stress about food poisoning or allergy incidents, giving you more time to concentrate on running a great food business - positives all round.
HACCP training is often a requirement of staff in the hospitality, catering and food manufacturing industries. HACCP stands for Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points, and is a method of creating and maintaining a food management system, based on a safety process originally designed by NASA. By using the HACCP process, a kitchen operator is able to identify any risks to food safety that may occur, put in place controls to monitor those risks and corrective actions when they do occur.
According to Article 5 of Regulation (EC) 852/2004, all UK food businesses must create, implement and maintain a food safety management system based on HACCP principles, so it is vital that there is knowledge of how to introduce and maintain a HACCP system in every food business. It is likely that many team members will be involved in some elements of HACCP - for instance, temperature monitoring, cleaning, auditing suppliers or ensuring that allergen systems are in place and adhered to. Therefore, HACCP training is a great investment, and a course that breaks down the process into simple steps, suitable for all levels of employee, is ideal. The Safer Food group HACCP training uses video and written content, alongside engaging graphics and strong accessibility features, to meet the training needs of your whole team, from supervisor to front of house, cleaner to chef.
As with most food safety training, HACCP training is currently advised rather than mandatory; as such there is no specified validity for HACCP certificates. However, in order to keep up with the latest changes in legislation and best practice, it is advised that these type of courses are renewed every three years. To renew your HACCP training with The Safer Food Group, click here and follow the link to our website.
UPFs are Ultra Processed Foods - you may have heard of them, as they've received a lot of press recently, but do you really understand what they are?
Many foods and ingredients we consume are processed to some extent. After all, most people don't use un-milled wheat, unbutchered meat or non-pasteurised milk. We may grow our own vegetables, fruit and herbs, forage the occasional blackberry, or even keep our own bees for honey. But, as most of us buy foods from producers or retailers, the majority of the foods we eat are processed in some way.
But some foods are processed to such a degree that they do not offer the health benefits of others, and can in fact present a risk to health. These are known as UPFs; a loose definition of UPFs is:
'products that typically contain large numbers of ingredients produced commercially, rather than domestically, and involving production methods that are not achievable during home preparation.'*
This is a really helpful definition if you need to make a quick analysis of a food. Let's break it down into three steps:
Other key signs that it might be a UPF are health claims on the packaging (e.g. 'low fat, 'source of protein'), products where the main ingredient has been turned into something very different (e.g. Corn chips), and the use of palm oil.
However, scientific sounding ingredients or unfamiliar processes are not always a red flag - for instance, calcium, iron, thiamine and niacin are micronutrients often added to flour, and using cornflour as a thickening agent is a standard process in a domestic setting. So taking some time to really understand ingredients lists is a great way to know what you're eating.
The NOVA classification system, created by Professor Carlos Monteiro and colleagues, has been designed to help us navigate UPFs. The four levels of processing described by the system are:
1. Unprocessed and minimally processed foods
These are foods that can be eaten or used in a domestic kitchen in their raw states, or after minor processing that doesn't change the food's major composition and properties. These process would include drying, chilling and freezing, crushing and grinding, pasteurisation, non-alcoholic fermentation and packaging. Such foods include raw, frozen and dried vegetables and fruit, fresh meat and fish, grains, legumes and rice, milk, plain yoghurt and raw eggs, nuts, seeds, herbs and spices. Nutritionally, this group of foods is a rich source of protein, fibre, vitamins and minerals.
2. Processed culinary ingredients
These are foods that are often used as added ingredients in recipes used in domestic cooking. They typically originate from ingredients in category 1 but undergo process such as pressing, grinding, milling and refining to enhance certain properties or flavours. As such, these ingredients individually don't offer broad nutritional benefits, and are often used to increase the appeal of category 1 foods (e.g. improving mouth feel, sweetness or acidity).. Examples include plant oils, animal fats, sugar, syrup, honey, salt and vinegar.
3. Processed foods
Typically, these are foods where two or more foods from categories 1 and 2 are combined and further processed, for example cooked, smoked, fermented or packaged, or category 1 foods that have been modified, for instance cheese, ham, tinned vegetables. Examples of category 3 foods are salted crisps, nuts, seeds, freshly made bread (not intensively processed e.g. Chorleywood process), tinned foods, prepared fruits and smoked fish. Nutritionally, some of these foods can retain their benefits, especially minimally processed foods originally from category 1. However, others can be nutritionally unbalanced, especially those with significant levels of added salt, sugar and fats.
4. Ultra-processed foods
Despite this category's title, these foods are not just those that have undergone a number of processes to reach their final form. They can be foods that have been subject to several industrial processes, but this category also encompasses foods that have several ingredients, often including those that are only available in commercial settings, such as hydrolysed proteins, inverted sugars, emulsifiers and gelling agents. As examples - chocolate made on an industrial scale can have few ingredients but will have undergone at least 7 processes, whereas a cheap supermarket sausage ingredients list can look like this:
Some examples of foods which may fit into the UPF category are: fizzy drinks, packaged snacks, sweets, ice cream, cereals, cakes, pastries, fruit flavoured yoghurts, pies and pizzas, nuggets, and burgers - but of course, this depends on the production methods and number of ingredients. Nutritionally, UPFs are often energy dense and lacking in micronutrients.
We've touched on the nutritional concerns of UPF foods above. Typically, UPFs are high in energy dense macro nutrients (fats and carbohydrates). These easily absorbed calories can encourage overeating, and potentially lead to obesity and related serious health issues.
Some ingredients found in UPFs have been linked to other serious health conditions such as cancers, and consumers of diets high in UPFs can have a greater tendency to suffer from tooth decay, type 2 diabetes, depression and dementia.
Eating a diet that is high in UPFs and therefore lower in whole foods is likely to lead to a lack of key micronutrients essential for good health and a well functioning body. The Safer Food Group's Level 2 Nutritional Awareness course covers micronutrients and their vital role in our diet in more detail.
Unfortunately, consumption of UPF foods in the UK is at record levels, and the health of the nation is suffering as a result. UPFs are generally cheaper, more readily available and more convenient than their whole food alternatives, and therefore their prevalence is not surprising.
UPFs are not always easy to identify and are often presented as healthy options. Many mueslis for instance have a number of added industrial ingredients, despite their healthy basis of oats, nuts, seeds and fruits. Multi-seed breads may present some health benefits over their white alternatives, but mass produced versions will still consist of emulsifiers, added enzymes and oxidising agents, and will have undergone a high-speed mixing process to make it cheaper and more consistent to produce. Those looking to reduce meat consumption are often steered towards 'plant-based' foods - but often, the popular alternatives are far more processed than their meats counterparts.
What can food industry professionals do to help the increasing threat of UPFs? Learning about UPFs and their impact on nutrition is a great start; The Safer Food Group's Level 2 course is a solid starting place which explains how foods are composed and the impact of various macro and micronutrients on our health.
Those in menu planning roles can ensure that meals are based wherever possible on whole, minimally processed foods, and those with caring and teaching responsibilities can pass on basic knowledge about UPFs, and hopefully increase awareness to help to reverse the UPF trend.
And ultimately, like most things nutrition, it's all about balance. A diet that is largely based on whole foods, plenty of plants, a good balance of macro-nutrients and lots of variety can usually handle the odd packaged snack or pizza.
When deciding where to eat consumers consider many things, but perhaps the most important thing they will consider is your business’s food hygiene rating. The Food Hygiene Rating Scheme is run in conjunction with local authorities and will rate a business’s hygiene standards between 1 and 5 stars. During an assessment, you will be scored on three areas of hygiene: premises, food handling processes, and confidence in management. In order to achieve a 5 star food hygiene rating, you must score highly in all three areas. The following guide will walk you through what the Environmental Health Officer (EHO) will be looking to see in each of these areas, and how to attain the maximum score in all criteria so that you can earn a 5 star food hygiene rating for your business.
All three categories are scored via the imposition of intervention points. You are aiming to receive 0 intervention points in all 3 categories. The possible intervention points range from 0 to 25 in multiples of 5, and scores will be assigned based upon severity of faults as well as volume. To achieve a 5 star food hygiene rating, your total number of intervention points across the 3 categories cannot be greater than 15, and no specific category can incur more than 5 points. This means that, whilst there is a margin for error, it is a narrow one. As such, you cannot rely on this buffer to help you to achieve your 5 star food hygiene rating; you must aim for perfection.
First impressions are vital when it comes to your premises. The assessment begins as soon as the EHO arrives, and as a result, the hygiene standard of the premises can really set the tone for the whole inspection. To start, it is vital to ensure that the premises are fit for purpose. There should be dedicated handwashing facilities, a mains water connection and hot water access, drainage, and lights to spot hazards. The kitchen’s construction and surfaces should be adequately suitable for food preparation. Physical separation should exist to limit the risk of cross-contamination, ideally allowing the journey from preparation to service to flow logically. Equipment must be in working condition, operated as per the manufacturer’s instruction, and moveable in order to be cleaned and inspected. Lack of necessary equipment can be in and of itself the difference between a 5 star and a 4 star rating, even if replacements are on their way; regular maintenance and replacement in good time can combat this.
As with much of ensuring hygiene throughout, much of this section comes down to processes. Whilst the absence of pests is clearly important, it is a legal requirement to have systems in place to prevent access to pests and control any who may get in. Similarly, a waste system should be in place, with regularly cleaned and emptied bins with lids, adequate storage in a hygienic area, and a provision for the removal of waste. Finally, there need to be systems in place, such as a rota, for the regular cleaning and disinfecting of your premises, ensuring that the right chemicals are used safely to maintain good hygiene throughout. With adequate, evidenced systems in place, receiving no intervention points for your premises should be comfortably attainable.
The range of food you serve, the methods used for storing, preparing and serving it, and the prevention of food hazards are vital pieces in succeeding in this category. This section is primarily focused on ensuring you do not serve contaminated food, due to the risks it could pose to the customer. Food contamination comes in 4 different forms - bacterial hazards, physical hazards, chemical hazards, and allergenic ingredients - with the avoidance of contamination from all of these being crucial. In order to do so, you must take steps when storing and preparing the food, and have systems in place to ensure this too. When storing food, chilled and frozen food must be kept at the FSA recommended temperatures, and fridges and freezers regularly checked to ensure they are at the right levels. High-risk, raw, and ready-to-eat foods should be separated to avoid cross-contamination. Fresh ingredients should be labelled to indicate age, checked before use to ensure freshness, and all ingredients should be thrown out when reaching their best before or use-by dates. When preparing food, there should be a continued separation of high-risk, raw, and ready-to-eat foods, often signified by chopping board colours. There is no existing set colour scheme for chopping boards (for example, meat does not have to be red), but having a set scheme that all your staff know and follow is a straightforward way to demonstrate your effort to limit cross-contamination. If possible, it would be sensible to divide your food areas between dirty tasks, such as washing up, and clean tasks, such as plating up, to further reduce the risk of cross=contamination
In the previous category, the results largely depend on your actions, setting up your premises correctly and ensuring systems are in place to maintain these. This section, however, relies on any staff you employ to maintain good practices too. The EHO is entitled to, and will, ask your staff about their knowledge of the food safety aspects of their roles. It is your responsibility to ensure that they understand what is required of them from a food safety standpoint, the processes in place to prevent contamination of food, and why those processes exist. Perhaps the most important of these areas is handwashing; if hand hygiene standards are not being met, you are likely to receive at least 10 intervention points, automatically preventing you from being able to achieve a 5 star food hygiene rating. As a result, it is important to ensure all staff who handle food know how to adequately wash their hands, and that this is something they actually do, particularly following situations that could lead to contamination.
Confidence in management is the broadest of categories and overlaps somewhat with some of the tasks which are already covered by the first two categories. It is effectively a category which addresses the food hygiene culture which you have created. The EHO knows that a visit is just a snapshot of the day-to-day business, and thus will want to ensure that the processes they see demonstrated are always being followed. Every business is required by law to have and use its own Food Safety Management System. This is a system based upon the principles of HACCP, specifically tailored to the unique nature of your business, with acknowledgements of the types of food you prepare, the space you prepare it in, and any other specific challenges you may face. The evidence that the systems mentioned in the previous sections are being followed correctly will also be checked by your EHO, and absence of such evidence can constitute a significant issue.
The final element of confidence in management, and indeed in achieving a 5 star food hygiene rating, is how well the culture of food hygiene is maintained. All staff handling food should be trained in food hygiene, with evidence supplied to show this. Supervisors should be particularly knowledgeable, so as to ensure standards are maintained and processes are followed by all staff. Staff should be provided with suitable PPE for any task that may require it, and a uniform policy should be in place to limit the risks of cross-contamination. Visual cues, whilst not necessary, can also contribute to an overall sense of attentiveness to food hygiene. Finally, staff should be given sufficient time to complete any set task. Rushed tasks can lead to cut corners, which reduces the efficacy of the task, limiting its usefulness.
Ultimately, as the EHO can come for an inspection at any time, with no warning, you should be doing everything possible to ensure that regardless of when an inspection takes place, you are prepared, you have effective systems in place to maintain hygiene standards, and that these systems are being followed by all staff, who know their roles and responsibilities. Despite how it may feel, the EHO is not seeking to fail you; as long as you are taking every precaution to maintain hygiene, you stand in good stead to achieve your 5 star food hygiene rating.
Acrylamide is a chemical that forms during a reaction between sugars and amino acids in starchy food, particularly when that food is cooked at high temperatures. Based on scientific studies, it is believed to be carcinogenic – that means, cancer forming – and therefore we should all be aware of its presence and understand what we can do to minimise its production when we cook.
Food handlers and food businesses have a legal responsibility to ensure that the food they produce is safe to eat. Therefore, all food businesses should be aware of and take steps to minimise the production of acrylamide when purchasing, storing, preparing and cooking food, and food handlers should follow any plans that are put in place. The responsibility of food handlers and producers to minimise acrylamide levels is specifically addressed in EU Regulation 2017/2158.
The most obvious indicator that a food has been cooked at too high a temperature is its colour – make sure fried, toasted or baked products reach a golden yellow, or lighter colour. Other quick tips include:
However, there are many more steps within the purchasing, storage, preparation and cooking processes that you need to follow to stay safe – we recommend you refer to Safer Food, Better Business or your relevant industry guides for more detailed information.
Glycerol is an ingredient that is added to some food and drink, to keep products moist, preserve them, to change their texture or to sweeten them. Glycerin (or glycerine) is a very closely related ingredient.
It is also widely used in pharmaceuticals – for instance in cough syrups and topical treatments such as wound and burn creams.
Following a number of cases of glycerol intoxication in children, the FSA have issued guidelines to food manufacturers and retailers regarding levels of glycerol in food and drink and how to serve specific products.
Because it is used to sweeten and to moisten, glycerol is found in small quantities in many processed foods. Check your packet of tortilla wraps, chewing gum, cake icing or cereal bars – you can expect to find glycerol towards the bottom of the ingredients list, showing that a small amount of it has been used in that product.
The FSA has released guidelines that relate specifically to slushy drinks, because of the levels of glycerol in some of these products and the way they are sometimes consumed. In some slushie drinks, glycerol is used both to create the slushy texture and to sweeten the drink, so can appear in relatively high levels compared to other foods and drinks. It can sometimes be sold as a ‘bottomless’ drink, particularly in family orientated venues, leading to high levels of consumption over short time periods.
Glycerol intoxication can happen in children aged about ten and under, causing them to develop headaches, sickness, and in extreme cases, shock, hypoglycaemia and loss of consciousness. This is because their smaller bodies cannot break glycerol down as efficiently as an adult or older child.
Because some slushy drinks contain particularly high levels of glycerol, the FSA recommends that children under 10 only consume limited amounts and are not offered free refills by retailers.
Regarding children and babies under 4, the FSA say,
“The FSA’s risk assessment considered a worst-case exposure scenario in which a child consumed a 350 ml slush drink containing the highest level of glycerol used (50,000 mg/L) and compared this to a threshold above which adverse effects could occur. Children aged 4 or below would exceed this threshold."
Their recommendations are that slushy drinks are therefore avoided for this age group.
The FSA have made four recommendations to food businesses regarding slushy drinks:
Future guidelines on the use of glycerol may be altered accordingly if levels of the ingredient are found to have reduced significantly at future investigations by the FSA.
As well as the guidelines issued to food businesses, the FSA have updated their Food Additives page for consumers to include specific advice regarding glycerol. It states:
“Slush ice drinks can contain the ingredient glycerol as a substitute for sugar, at a level required to create the ‘slush’ effect. At this level, we recommend that children aged four years and under should not consume these drinks.
This is due to their potential to cause side-effects such as headaches and sickness, particularly when consumed in excess.”
The Safer Food Group offer food safety training for food businesses in the UK. As food safety experts, we seek to inform our customers of the latest news, advice and guidance within the industry and help them understand the implications for their operations. For more information about The Safer Food Group training, please visit www.thesaferfoodgroup.com
The Safer Food Group
Unit 2, Integrity House,
Lower Lumsdale, Matlock
DE4 5EX
Back
to top
© The Safer Food Group 2024 | Privacy policy
