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What hygiene, 1st aid & health & safety do i need for a food shop?

What hygiene, first aid and health & safety do i need for a food shop selling cookies in the UK? And how much is it likly to cost for two people?

Public Comments

1. You will have all the answers after you applied for the food shop permit or license.

2. First Aid - if your business is small and retail then you likely won't need to have any first aid qualifications. However, you may want to search for "Appointed Persons" courses from St John Ambulance. In fact, if you're interested in doing a course anyway, give them a ring and ask to seak to a tutor.

Health and safety - no formal training or provision required beyond common sense.

Food safety - no qualifications needed at all. Once you've started write to the environmental health dept at your local council telling them what you do and where you are. If you want to impress them get hold of "Safer Food Better Business" from www.food.gov.uk - this can be posted to you for free.

Good luck - I loove cookies!

3. You might not need any formal qualifications but this might interfere with your rating (stars where I live), I just completed a food safety online course and it cost me and my husband £58 (this was for both) and took us less than two hours to complete.

Ask your local council and they will help, ask for someone from the environmental office.

4. By UK law you are required to have a current Health/Hygiene certificate. Your local Environmental Health Dept can arrange for you to go on a one day course. You cannot trade without it. You will need to do a risk assessment of the premises. If you have staff you will need a first aid kit and an accident book. There is more to the catering business than just opening a shop. There are a huge amount of rules and regulations. The best thing is to talk to your local Business Link for guidance.