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| | | | Food Standards Agency awards local authorities £5.5M for training caterers in food safety Sep 10th 2005
The Food Standards Agency today announced it has awarded grants totalling £5.5m to local authorities in England for training caterers in food safety. 
These grants come as a result of new EU regulations, which aim to improve consumer protection and make it easier for caterers to implement hygiene rules.
The money will help catering businesses implement Safer food, better business (SFBB), the FSA’s new simplified approach to understanding how to manage food safety and reduce levels of food poisoning in people eating out. The FSA has developed SFBB to help catering businesses, particularly smaller ones, comply with new European food safety legislation that comes into effect in January next year.
In this first tranche of awards, £5.5m has been awarded to 158 local authorities over 2005/6 and 2006/7. Some grant awards have been made to individual local authorities. Some have been made to joint bids from local authorities working together, sometimes in collaboration with trade bodies or training organisations.
David Statham, the Agency s Director of Enforcement, made the announcement at the annual conference of the Chartered Institute for Environmental Health.
Mr Statham said: These awards are part of a rolling programme to assist local authorities to provide information that food businesses will need to comply with the new EU hygiene regulations and to make sure food sold to people when they eat out is as safe as possible.
We have developed the Safer food, better business pack to make the transition to the new rules simple and free of red tape.
I’m particularly pleased to see such a significant number of joint bids involving local authorities working together. It’s also heartening to see other organisations, including trade associations and training bodies, joining forces with their local authorities to offer their expertise in delivering real benefits to their local community.
At least another £4.5m in grants will be available to be spent on more training and support for caterers over the next three years. The second tranche of awards to local authorities, to be made from current applications, will be announced in the new year.
There are similar schemes already operating in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The new EU food hygiene legislation will apply to all food businesses in the EU from 1 January 2006. It simplifies and updates 17 existing food hygiene directives, which contain inconsistencies and duplication, with three more-flexible and pragmatic regulations.
The main requirements are that businesses draw up and follow new risk-based procedures to control hygiene hazards based on a Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) approach. Businesses will also have to keep records to show how any hazards to food safety have been identified and properly handled. Safer food, better business is a common-sense simple approach that allows small businesses to meet these new requirements.
Case studies
Twenty-two London authorities have joined together with a range of training organisations in a project to provide business workshops and one-to-one coaching sessions in over 2,000 catering outlets across London. The Agency has provided £414,000 in funding.
In the North West of England, 17 local authorities have collaborated in a joint application with the Northwest Food Alliance in a similar project. The Agency has provided £344,500 in funding.
Food Standards Agency http://www.food.gov.uk
Sep 10th 2005
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