Information for traders

Before you start trading you will need to complete some food hygiene training, outlined below. Take special note of the new EU food hygiene legislation that came into effect in January 2006.

Help with your business

Business Link

Business Link gives a comprehensive range of objective and impartial business information and advice. They can help with

• Starting up
• Finance and grants
• Taxes, returns & payroll
• Employing people
• Health, safety, premises
• Exploit your ideas
• IT & e-commerce
• Sales and marketing
• International trade
• Grow your business
• Buy or sell a business
• Your type of business
• Regulations, licences and contacts specific to your business area

Call them on 0845 600 9 006 or visit www.businesslink.gov.uk.

Risking it all…?

Have you been watching this Channel 4 series? It may give you inspiration (or a headache!). If you missed the episode featuring some entrepreneurs setting up a juice bar in September, catch up at Channel 4's website.

Certificates & legislation

Certificate in Food Hygiene & Safety

Currently you will need this certificate at Foundation level (level 1) before you can get approval from the council to trade. You will need to make sure that there is someone with this certificate present at all times whilst trading. Juice Junction can provide this training (either computer- or paper-based) that you would be able to complete in the comfort of your own home.

New EU food hygiene legislation

New legislation applying to all food businesses (except primary producers) came into effect on 1st January 2006.

It is a legal requirement (Article 5 of Regulation (EC) No 852/2004 on the hygiene of foodstuffs) for all food businesses to put in place, implement and maintain a permanent procedure based on HACCP (hazard analysis critical control points) principles. The HACCP principles referred to above consist of the following:

• Identifying any hazards that must be prevented, eliminated or reduced to acceptable levels
• Identifying the critical control points at the step or steps at which control is essential to prevent or eliminate a hazard or to reduce it to acceptable levels
• Establishing critical limits at critical control points that separate acceptability from unacceptability for the prevention, elimination or reduction of identified hazards
• Establishing and implementing effective monitoring procedures at critical control points
• Establishing corrective actions when monitoring indicates that a critical control point is not under control
• Establishing procedures, which shall be carried out regularly, to verify that the measures outlined in the above paragraphs
• Establishing documents and records commensurate with the nature and size of the food business to demonstrate the effective application of the measures outlined in the above paragraphs.
• When any modification is made in the product, process, or any step, food business operators shall review the procedure and make the necessary changes to it.

The regulation states that food business operators are to ensure that: "food handlers are supervised and instructed and/or trained in food hygiene matters commensurate with their work activity; that those responsible for the development and maintenance of the procedure referred to in Article 5 (1) of the Regulation or for the operation of relevant guides have received adequate training in the application of the HACCP principles, and compliance with any requirement of national law concerning training programmes for persons working in certain food sectors."

You can complete the required training and obtain special HACCP packs through Juice Junction.

Further information on food hygiene & safety:

Royal Institute of Public Health
www.riph.org.uk

Food Standards Agency
www.food.gov.uk/foodindustry

In addition to training, we offer a range of services and special deals for those looking to start up in the juice/smoothie business.