Food Safety for Consumers

General information about food safety is available on the Food Standards Agency (FSA) website.

What's in your food?

For an explanation of food labels visit the interactive section of the FSA website.

If you have specific concerns about a food premises, or food that you have purchased in the Bexley borough then you should read the information below. You may then like to complete our on-line service request form.

Please note that if the food was obtained from food premises not located within Bexley then we have no authority to investigate your complaint. You should contact the local authority for the area where the premises are located.

If you complain about a food business then we may decide to pay an unannounced visit to the premises. In many cases however we will write to the business giving them the opportunity of putting matters right, and check it the next time that the premises are inspected.
If your complaint is about an item of food that you have purchased in the borough, we will investigate more serious incidents.

Making A Food Complaint

What is a food complaint?

This is any complaint about an item of food, its labelling, or an advertisement for the food, where it was purchased or on sale within the borough, for example:

food containing a foreign body (e.g. an insect or hair)
some aspect of the label or advertising which is thought to be inaccurate or misleading
food which was not of the expected quality
food which you think made you ill

What should I do with the food?

It is important to keep the food, any packaging or labelling, and any receipt. Leave any foreign body, etc., undisturbed. Try and follow any storage conditions printed on the packaging until you speak to us. If there are none try to keep the food under similar conditions to those in the shop at the time of purchase.

Then contact food.safety@bexley.gov.uk as soon as possible.

What will happen then?

You will be asked to answer a series of questions about the food, what you think is wrong, where and when it was purchased or eaten, and what happened to the food after it was purchased.

If you were ill you may be asked to provide additional information and assistance.

You may also be asked if you are willing to give evidence in Court in case we decide to prosecute. You may of course refuse. If you agree you will be asked to provide a statement.

All of this information will help us to carry-out appropriate tests and investigations. The food may be sent to our laboratories for scientific tests and we may visit the premises where the food was prepared or sold. Where the food comes from outside of the borough we may talk to the local Environmental Health and Trading Standards department to help us decide what action to take.

If we are considering taking legal action we may visit the premises ourselves. We may decide that it would not be necessary to carry out a detailed investigation and the food may be given to the food business for them to look into the problem to try and prevent it happening again.

At the conclusion of our investigation any remaining food, etc., will usually be destroyed.

What action will be taken?

There are a number of possible actions. We may:

decide it is inappropriate to take any action
pass details of the complaint to the company that produced the food
simply give written or verbal advice to the food business
seize food and have it destroyed
advise the food business to make improvements
decide to issue a formal caution, or
decide to prosecute someone

It is important to note that the law recognises that sometimes things can go wrong and so it may not always be possible to take any formal action.

Will I be kept informed about what is happening?

Seven out of ten investigations are usually completed within a month, a few may take longer, perhaps several months. We will keep you informed of progress and, unless otherwise advised, you will be updated monthly.

Will the company be told who has made a complaint?

Many companies ask for details of the complainant so that they can contact them with suitable apologies. If a complainant has agreed that we may give out their name and address, these will be passed on at the end of our investigation. Otherwise we will not usually release your details.

Will I receive any compensation?

The question of compensation is entirely a matter between the complainant and the company concerned. The role of the Food Safety Team is to protect public health and ensure fair trading by ensuring that food is safe to eat, correctly labelled and advertised and that it generally satisfies relevant legal requirements.

How can I make a food complaint?

You can complete our on-line service request form.

What can I do if I'm not satisfied with the service I receive?

If you are not happy with the way we have dealt with your complaint, or if you have any comments regarding our standards or service, please contact the Head of Environmental Health (Commercial Services) at the address listed in the 'contacts' section above.