For businesses
All complaints and issues about food or food premises should be reported to the Food Standards Agency (FSA). Food alerts are issued by the FSA when a manufacturer of a product advises them of a product fault. All food safety alerts are available on the FSA website and food business owners need to routinely check this website to ensure that defective products are removed from their shelves.
The Council will manage the investigation and it will need to see evidence to support a complaint. There are many issues with food or food premises that the Council investigates. For example:
- a food safety incident - where there is a concern about actual or suspected threats to the safety of food in order to protect consumers' interests
- 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.