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