Food safety measures enforced in Bristol restaurants » Local Government » 24dash.com

Restaurant owners in Bristol "must comply with new food safety laws," says the city council. 

To find out if they are compliant they are invited to attend free seminars over the next few months.

Over forty managers and chefs of south Asian restaurants and takeaways recently gathered in Bristol at the Bangladesh Association in Eastville to hear about the new food safety laws.

They were each given a copy of the new Safer Food Better Business (SFBB) pack which has been specially produced for small catering businesses to help them comply.

Every restaurant and takeaway must now have written procedures which can be used by owners and managers to train staff, maintain standards, and above all ensure that food is safe to eat.

Bristol City Council's Food Safety Team worked with the Bangladesh Association to encourage restaurants from all over the city to attend this special seminar for Asian businesses.

The City Council are running a series of free seminars over the next few months to help all Bristol caterers with the new laws, and to learn about the Safer Food Better Business system. New food legislation introduced at the beginning of this year made it a requirement for food businesses to have a documented Food Safety Management System. 

Businesses who implement the SFBB system can improve their star rating on the Scores On The Doors website. The hygiene ratings for Bristol restaurants, takeaways and cafes, as assessed by Environmental Health Officers are now published at www.scoresonthedoors.org.uk

Councillor Hopkins said: "The City Council recognises the difficulties that small businesses have when new regulations come into force and so we have worked hard to get additional funding from the Food Standards Agency to enable us to offer free practical training and advice to help traders protect their customers, and improve their reputation and their business."

Mr Muflay Ahmed of the Brunel Raj restaurant in Clifton said: "The seminar was very useful and I learned so much about the SFBB system. I think the free coaching afterwards will be a great help to enable me to get the system up and running in my business. Owners of other restaurants have told me that the seminar met more than their expectations"

Simon Melican, Food Safety Manager added: "I'm delighted by the response from these businesses to the training, it really underlines their commitment and concern for food safety. I hope that all small caterers who also want to take advantage of this opportunity will contact us and book their free training and coaching sessions as soon as possible as we only have a limited number of places available"

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