Food Safety

Food Safety in Retail Foods

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Every food business is required to follow the legal requirements for food safety.  The general principles of food safety require every business operator along the food chain to ensure that the safety of food is maintained. Grocery store activities can cover a wide range, including food processing and food serving, so operators need to follow a wide set of safety procedures. Grocery stores that produce fresh and cooked foods in store are required to follow the same food safety procedures as restaurants and other food serving businesses. Retail stores can apply the same safety principles based on HACCP as the food processing industry, but adapted for the much more varied conditions and production. HACCP principles are applied to protect food from biological, physical and chemical food safety hazards by applying controls that prevent direct contamination and cross contamination. Hazards can be introduced anywhere in the supply chain from production on farm to transport and during storage and processing in the retail store. Raw animal products such as meat, eggs, fish and shellfish, and especially poultry, can carry microorganisms that are harmful to the consumer. In store, staff surfaces and equipment can introduce hazards to the food.