A guide to health, safety and other prosecution risks - part 11. There's a rat in the kitchen, what am I gonna do?

Any business involved in the manufacture, preparation, storage, service or sale of food, even if only in the staff canteen, needs to be aware of and deal with the vast array of regulation with which it is required to comply. Food hygiene, Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point, labelling and health claims are just some of the areas covered by prescriptive legislation. Regulators are ever more sophisticated, consumers ever more knowledgeable and, in a highly competitive market, the consequences should something go wrong are ever more serious as well as more public.

Wragge & Co's health and safety experts provide a reminder of some basic principles to help avoid falling foul of the legislation.