A food safety management system explains exactly how a business manages its food safety and hygiene. Food safety management systems help business and organisations stay compliant with food safety practices and provide a way to control food safety hazards so that every business knows the food they sell is safe to eat.

Usually, a food safety management system will include information about:

• Procedures used to maintain food safety compliance
• The specific risks and hazards of the business
• Information surrounding how food safety will be successfully managed

Why do you need a food safety management system?

Well, the most important reason is that it’s actually a legal requirement to have a food safety management system in place. All businesses are required to put in place and maintain a food safety management system – this is based on the principles of Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP).

What’s a HACCP?

HACCP is a method of ensuring that food is always safe to eat. It involves identifying food hazards and working out what needs to be done to eliminate them, or at the very least manage them. Points that are considered critical to food safety are called Critical Control Points (CCPs) and, as part of the HACCP process they have to be controlled, recorded and monitored. HACCPs should form the basis of all food safety management systems.

Having a comprehensive food safety management system in place provides assurance for anyone you work with, as well as your customers, that food safety practices are being managed across all levels.

Where should you start with a food safety management system?

There should be someone within your business who has a good understanding of food safety and hygiene, and this is the ideal person to produce your food safety management system. However, many businesses choose to work with third party providers like us to help them create and support with their food safety management systems for that extra bit of reassurance. Your food safety management system is something an Environmental Health Officer (EHO) will assess and is a big part of the Confidence in Management score that counts towards your overall food hygiene rating meaning there is no room for errors.  A good food safety management system underpins everything that you do to ensure your food is safe to eat.

What are the benefits of a digital food safety management system?

A digital food safety management system can take away some of the stresses of managing food safety. Here at Food Alert, we offer a complete digital food safety and health & safety management software solution – Alert65. This is our cloud-based software system which allows organisations to maintain their food safety management in the simplest way possible, as well as saving time and money. In fact, nearly 50% of our clients believe that using Alert65 has gained them back 8 hours a month and that 40% of our client’s state that we save them on average up to £100 per month!

And if that’s not enough, here’s why Alert65 is the hospitality industry’s solution of choice…

• It’s fully customisable, so it can be built to meet the demands of businesses of all sizes
• You can store all your essential documentation in one central location, so it’s easy to find important documents and information wherever you are
• Your due diligence records available in one place
• Your reports can be tailored to your exact needs with real-time analytics
• Best of all, Alert65 is an fully compliant food safety management system!

To find out more about our specialist digital food safety management system, or to arrange a personalised demo with one of our team members, get in touch today!