Can storing food unfit for human consumption get you into trouble as a food business?

It is generally assumed that everything found on your premises during an inspection will be offered for sale.  When an enforcement officer inspects your food premises and finds food “unfit” for human consumption except certain things are in place, you can into trouble.

So what should a food business do?

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Food that is not intended for sale or not intended to be used should be already clearly marked “Not for sale, or not for use” or any other appropriate wording. In addition to this, you should have traceability records in place (where the food came from), and possible where the “unfit food” will be going, if you have prearranged collection arrangements. The officer must be convinced that you really did not intend to use the food.

A recent prosecution has highlighted the importance of the above.

A certain company has been fined more that £10,000 for keeping frozen meat on the premises not fit for human consumption.

Quote from article “It is illegal to place in a cold store food that is unsafe for human consumption and doing so, the prosecution argued, amounted to placing the food ‘on the market’, where it could re-enter the human food chain". Read full account from here: