For customers
All complaints and issues about food or food premises should be reported to the Food Standards Agency (FSA).
The Council will manage the investigation and it will ask you to provide evidence to support your complaint. This evidence may be in the form of the original packaging or the food itself, photographs, receipts or correspondence.
There are many issues with food or food premises that the Council investigates. For example:
- objects in food that should not be there, such as a hair or a shard of glass
- chemical or bacterial contamination of food
- out of date 'use by' or 'best before' dates
- incorrect or missing labelling
- poor food safety and hygiene practices
- food crimes
There is no fixed time limit for an investigation into a complaint. The Council usually deals with a complaint within one month, however, it may take longer depending on how complex the investigation needs to be.