Food contamination is when food is spoiled or tainted because it contains bacteria, parasites or a substance that makes it unfit to eat. Eating contaminated food can make you unwell and in more serious cases mean you need hospital treatment. 

What you can do:

• wash your hands and work surfaces before, during and after preparing food
• separate raw meat, poultry, seafood, and eggs from ready-to-eat foods
• cook food to the right internal temperature to kill harmful bacteria
• store your food correctly
• do not stockpile goods

What your council is doing: 

• in most cases, the local authority would expect to receive an alert for any human food contaminations
• there is a food incident product recall plan to deal with any large-scale traceability exercises, product recall and investigations into criminal offences as required
• we have trading standards and planning services officers who are responsible for checking and enforcing compliance with the Food Standards Agency