selling food made at home - advice needed

[Yotamsrazor]

I would like to sell home-made soups and a selection of main course dishes. I can't find info on my council website about whether you are allowed to sell food made in a domestic kitchen and if you are, what the rules and regs are. Also not totally sure which food hygiene certificate would be acceptable. I live in a housing association flat and don't have the money to make major alterations to my kitchen. Does anyone know where I can find this sort of info? TIA

You need to call the council's Health and Safety Dept. They will have one and food standards come under that.

Usually you will need to have your kitchen inspected...they will check on your oven and things like proximity of toilet to kitchen...I think there needs to be 2 doors between the nearset loo and where you do food prep. So that means, no loos opening directly off the kitchen in practice....

Thanks mrsmushroom I will do that.

I prepare food at home to sell - I got a 5 from the local Env Health Inspectors and didn't have to make many changes to my kitchen but I did have to have lots of documentation in place - look up HACCP on the web to see the sort of things you'll have to 'prove'. You can download a copy of Safer Food Better Business for Caterers which is a great starting point.

Also, you might have to declare that you're doing this to the HA and your contents insurers because it can impact on insurance validity - it increases the risk of fire from an insurance companies point of view, apparently and a lot of policies will be invalid if you work from home.

You might want to look at public liability insurance too - if someone falls ill after consuming your food, it can be very costly if they pursue you, even if your food was fine. There are some good deals around and a higher level Food Safety qualification can reduce your premiums, too.

yes to ringing local council. I teach cookery and for a number related ventures have had to ring local environmental health. v useful.