Lisburn City Council
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FOOD STANDARDS
Lisburn City Council Environmental Health Department are responsible for Food Standards matters such as the quality, composition, labelling, presentation and advertising of food, and also the materials and articles in contact with food.
Picture of EHO checking a food label.
Picture of food packaging.
Picture of labelling of pork chop.
Quality is associated with that which the purchaser of a food product might generally expect. It is advisable that manufacturers develop a quality assurance system to allow consistency in the quality of their product. They should also have arrangements in place for dealing with consumer complaints.
Composition looks at the ingredients of any food product, and recipes should be devised to ensure that the subsequent product fulfils all statutory requirements regarding composition, for example
(1) maximum levels of preservatives in sausage meat
(2) minimum fat content in milk
(3) minimum meat content of meat products
Labelling of food is necessary to provide consumers with sufficient information to enable them to mke an informed choice, and then to handle, store and prepare the food safely.
Materials and Articles in Contact with Food are checked by Environmental Health Offficers to ensure they meet specified standards. Items routinely checked include crockery/cutlery, equipment, disposable food containers, and packaging.
Labelling:
It is an offence to sell foods that are not properly labelled or are labelled in a way that is misleading to consumers.
Generally, pre-packed products whether sold to retailers or caterers, must be labelled with the following information: -
(a) the name of the food
(b) a list of ingredients in descending weight order, including additives
(c) an indication of minimum durability e.g. use by or best before date
(d) special storage conditions, for example store under refrigeration
(e) the name and address of the manufacturer
(f) origin of the food
(g) instructions for use e.g. cooking instructions
Picture of ingredients list on food.
Picture of storage instructions on a food label.
Food that is sold unwrapped – such as some bread, food from a cooked food counter and burgers/sausages in a butchers shop - don't carry an ingredients list. A ticket or notice nearby must show its proper name, and the type of any main additives in it, such as 'contains preservatives'.
Environmental Health Officers carry out routine inspections and sampling of food products supplied for retail sale as a checking system to ensure that good standards are being maintained.
Lisburn City Council has produced a Guide to Food Labelling of Meat Products , which gives information on what labels you should expect when shopping in a butchers or a supermarket.
Picture of a butcher.
Lisburn City Council has produced a Guide to Labelling of Bakery Products , including sandwiches, which gives information on what labels you should expect when shopping in a bakery.
Picture of bakery products.
Further details on labelling can be found on: (External) www.eatwell.gov.uk/foodlabels/