Frequently asked questions

Inspectors may visit on routine inspection or because of a complaint made to the department. How often the inspectors routinely inspect your business depends on the type of business and its previous record. Some premises might be inspected at least every six months, others much less often.

Environmental Health Officers have the right to enter and inspect food premises at all reasonable hours. They do not have to make an appointment and will usually come without notice.

Environmental Health Officers from Magherafelt District Council will inspect your business. Environmental Health Officers check on food hygiene and food standards matters such as composition and labelling.

The inspectors will look at how you operate your business to identify potential hazards, and how to make sure that your business is following the law.

When inspectors visit they must follow the Food Standards Agency's Framework Agreement on local authority food law enforcement, and the relevant Food Safety Order Codes of Practice. The Framework Agreement can be viewed on the Food Standards Agency website.

You can expect the inspectors to show you identification when they arrive and be polite throughout the visit. They should always give you feedback on an inspection. This means they will tell you about any hazards they have identified and advise you about how they can be avoided.

If inspectors advise you to do something, they must tell you whether you need to do it to comply with the law, or whether it would simply be good practice. If you are asked to take any action as a result of the inspection, you must be given the reasons in writing. If the inspectors decide that you are breaking the law, they must tell you what that law is. The inspectors should give you a reasonable amount of time to make changes, except where there is an immediate risk to public health.

When they think it is necessary, inspectors can take 'enforcement action', to protect the public. For example, they can:

• take samples and photographs of food, and inspect your records
• write to you informally, asking you to put right any problems
• serve you with an 'improvement notice' if you are breaking the law, which sets out certain things that you must comply
• detain or seize suspect foods
• serve an 'emergency prohibition notice', which forbids the use of premises or equipment (this notice must be confirmed by a court)
• recommend a prosecution, in serious cases

If a prosecution is successful, the court may prohibit you from using certain processes, premises or equipment, or you could be banned from managing a food business. It could also lead to a fine or imprisonment.