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Food hygiene for farmers and growers

EU Regulation (EC) No 852/2004 on the hygiene of foodstuffs is aimed at ensuring that controls throughout the food chain are strengthened. In particular, the legislation is intended to modernise, consolidate and simplify EU food hygiene legislation, and to apply effective and proportionate controls throughout the food chain from primary production to sale or supply to the final consumer.

Farmers and growers must follow basic hygiene procedures to ensure hazards such as contamination arising from soil, water, fertilisers, pesticides and the handling of waste, etc, are prevented. Records relevant to food safety must also be kept.

In the guide
What types of businesses are covered?
Conditions

What types of businesses are covered?

Food businesses and food business operators, as defined:

• 'food business' means any undertaking, whether for profit or not and whether public or private, carrying out any stage of production, processing and distribution of food
• 'food business operator' means the natural or legal persons responsible for ensuring that the requirements for food law are met within the food business under their control

So, for example, any livestock farms, fish farms, arable farms, PYO, market gardens or bee keepers producing food for human consumption.

One of the requirements of the EU Regulation is that, with few exceptions, all food businesses must be approved or registered with their local authority.

Conditions
The farm-to-fork approach of the legislation includes requirements for primary producers. The Regulation contains various conditions and good practice which food businesses, including farmers and growers, will have to comply with, as appropriate. The requirements for farmers and growers are fairly basic hygiene procedures. As food businesses, they will have to ensure that hazards are controlled appropriately.

Under food hygiene rules, you will need to take steps to:

• prevent contamination arising from water, soil, feed, veterinary products, muck spreading, pesticides, waste and so on
• keep animals intended for slaughter for human consumption clean (at least immediately prior to slaughter)
• prevent animals and pests from causing contamination
• take account of results from tests relevant to animal and human health
• use medicines/plant protection products appropriately

The legislation requires that you keep records relevant to food safety, including:

• the nature and origin of your animal feed
• your use of plant protection products and biocides
• any veterinary products administered and their withdrawal dates
• any occurrence of disease or pests that may affect food safety information required for traceability
• the results of any analyses carried out
• the health status of the animals you send for slaughter

Good records help protect you and your business in the event of an animal feed or related human food safety incident and are essential in order to quickly trace the origins of any problem.

Most of the information you need to keep will already be available as invoices, receipts, spray records, etc, or as part of the requirements of farm or crop assurance schemes and you should not need to create many new records.

If you do need to record additional information, you may find it useful to complete a farm diary or notebook.

Please note
This leaflet is not an authoritative interpretation of the law and is intended only for guidance. Any legislation referred to, while still current, may have been amended from the form in which it was originally enacted. Please contact us for further information.

Relevant legislation
EU Regulation (EC) No 852/2004 on the hygiene of foodstuffs
Food Hygiene (England) Regulations 2006

Last reviewed/updated: December 2012

Sheffield City Council Trading Standards, 2-10 Carbrook Hall Road, Sheffield, South Yorkshire S9 2DB
Telephone: (0114) 2736290   Fax: (0114) 2736248   Electronic Mail: trading.standards@sheffield.gov.uk