Food business operator duties

The food business operator (FBO) is the person or company legally responsible for making sure food law is met in the business they control. It may be a sole trader, a partnership, a limited company or a charity. In a chain, it is usually the company, not the site manager.

The main duties of an FBO are these. Do not place unsafe food on the market. Register the premises, or get approval where it is needed. Keep the premises clean and in good repair. Put in place food safety procedures based on HACCP principles, proportionate to the size and activity of the business. Make sure staff are supervised and instructed or trained. Keep records that show where food came from and which business customers it went to. Give accurate allergen information. Withdraw or recall unsafe food and tell the authorities.

Food is unsafe if it is harmful to health or unfit to eat. It does not have to make someone ill. Food that is badly contaminated or has gone off can be unsafe even if nobody has eaten it yet.

The training duty is often misunderstood. Food handlers must be supervised and instructed and/or trained in food hygiene matters commensurate with their work. Those responsible for HACCP-based procedures must have adequate training. No law requires a specific certificate or level, and certificates have no legal expiry. The employer decides what training each role needs.

Supervisors and managers carry out these duties day to day on behalf of the FBO. The legal duty stays with the operator, but you are not free of risk. If an offence happens because of another person's act or default, that person can be prosecuted too, whether or not the operator is. A manager who knows a fridge has failed and does nothing may be personally at risk.

Your job as a supervisor is to turn these duties into daily habits. The owner of a pub company may never visit your kitchen. You are the person who makes sure the probe works, the fridge is checked and the records are true. Use this test: if the operator were asked how a duty is being met today, could you show it?