11th June 2010
Ethnic food retailers from across Belfast have benefited from a workshop organised by the city council to improve their understanding of food safety legislation. Staff from the city’s food safety team organised the event, which was funded by the Food Standards Agency, and feedback was overwhelmingly positive.
Requests were received for the presentations to be provided in seven other languages and the council was pleased to be able to meet this demand through the FSA funding.
Pat McCarthy, chair of the council’s health and environmental services said that Belfast is home to over 20 ethnic food outlets, with numbers steadily increasing. The aim of the workshop was to raise awareness about the legal requirements on topics like product labelling and general food safety to help further improve compliance.
He added: ‘We were delighted to see so many people attend and demonstrate that food safety is clearly an important priority for their business. The event was very successful in establishing good working relationships with our city’s ethnic retailers. We look forward to building on this good work and trust it will be reflected in compliance levels of food hygiene legislation.’
Susanne Boyd, head of FSA food hygiene, standards and Incidents in Northern Ireland commented: ‘The presentations were pitched at exactly the level required for food business operators to understand their requirements under food law. I was very impressed by the questions that individuals asked and their desire to put things right and address shortcomings in their businesses.’