Food Business - adding sausages and burgers

[Gudgeon]

Hi all,
With the help of some members on here I have managed to convince my local council to register my food business - supply of carcases in fur and skinned and the retail sale and supply to local customers, butchers, retail etc with butchered joints. All good until I said that I was intending to supply sausages and burgers as well. He did much teeth sucking and said he'd have to consult the FSA.

I've sucked up the full Safer Food Better Business book, have got spreadsheets to track everything. Is there anything else I need to think about? My labelling is spot on thanks to a Trading Standards contact.

Everything is Pre-packed direct sell.

Many thanks

 

[Girl_with_a_gun]

Been a while since we've been registered but sounds perhaps like the person is new to the job! Perhaps worried about the "processed" element but shouldn't make a difference if still raw. Suspect it's the normal post-code lottery. Good luck.

 

[Gudgeon]

No, no fully experienced. Once went to a deer larder 10 years ago

 

[Biathlonjimmy]

Just prime cuts for me. Anything processed required a whole new level of ballache. Is now take "prime cuts" to my local butcher who does a run of 40kg at a time for burgers & sausages. All vac packed with mix included for £60. It would take me all day to do that myself.

 

[75]

Whole new level of risk for burgers and sausages - from both food poisoning and allergen perspectives.

 

[Gudgeon]

I get the extra complexity and paperwork required. But if the local cafe can deal with making lasagnes and dealing with nut allergies then I'm sure I can produce a perfectly safe Gluten Free sausage.

 

[VSS]

Anything processed beyond basic cuts is higher risk. This is why the "best before" date that you put on a pack of mince must give a shorter storage life than the date you put on something like a roasting joint.
Once you start adding additional ingredients (for example, when making burgers or sausages), that's a whole nother risk level again, particularly with regard to allergens. You need to have trusted sources of supply for ingredients, and get their declarations of conformity to show that you've exercised due diligence.
If you ask your local butcher to do sausages for you (as per @Biathlonjimmy 's post #4) for onward sale, he must provide you with the necessary ingredients declaration and percentage inclusion.

 

[devon deer stalker]

If you ask your local butcher to do sausages for you (as per @Biathlonjimmy 's post #4) for onward sale, he must provide you with the necessary ingredients declaration and percentage inclusion.

The butcher can label the ingredients and allergens etc on the label for your onward sale can't he?

 

[VSS]

The butcher can label the ingredients and allergens etc on the label for your onward sale can't he?

Yes, if he's also doing the labelling for you. But you should still keep a copy of the product declaration from whatever company supplied the mix.

 

[sauer]

go to the FSA website and you cxan do free online allergen training and also vak pak low oxygen enviroment training ...quick basic course that are free and will further your knowledge & ideas of risk etc..

Paul

 

[Gudgeon]

go to the FSA website and you cxan do free online allergen training and also vak pak low oxygen enviroment training ...quick basic course that are free and will further your knowledge & ideas of risk etc..

Paul

Thanks for that Paul. Have done the allergen one, but didn't know about vac packing.

 

[EssBee]

I think that the fact that you will be mincing meat increases the risk of microbial growth, i.e. exposing some types of bacteria to an oxygen environment, plus the increased risk of physical contamination, plus allergens make processed products like burghers and sausages a higher risk product. Best stick to prime joints and let your butcher make them.

 

[Gudgeon]

Oh ye of little faith!! EHO man came back today, went through the paperwork and said I was better organised than many high street food places. Gave me a five star sticker and said "See you in a few years, happy hunting!"

Thanks again to a few who shared HACCP, label formats and general advice.

 

[aquarius11]

Well done Gudgen, as a chef of nearly 50yrs the changes in food safety have increased beyond anything like common sense but thats today's risk and blame an allergy society, now you're there and the hard work is done and easy to maintain it, record everything, temps, times change of ingredients etc.
Well done again

 

[Gudgeon]

Well done Gudgen, as a chef of nearly 50yrs the changes in food safety have increased beyond anything like common sense but thats today's risk and blame an allergy society, now you're there and the hard work is done and easy to maintain it, record everything, temps, times change of ingredients etc.
Well done again

Thanks, it was a learning curve. My missus says "if you spent 10% of the time on our house as you do on your larder....."