Safety harnessed
Julie Batchelor took on the licence a year ago at the Kings Arms in Newport Pagnell, Buckinghamshire, a Charles Wells pub.
Getting the food safety policy right was a big part of the moving-in process, but Batchelor says that it's not something to fear.
"It's not rocket science," she says. "I have an up-to-date food safety manual that I use as a bible. The Food Standards Agency (FSA) manual that forms part of its Safer Food Better Business pack, clearly lists all the processes you need to put in place to comply with food safety regulations. It gives you all the cooking temperature guidelines, tells you about the different types of germs and advises on how to avoid spreading them around the kitchen.
"There's information in there about cross-contamination, using different chopping boards and how to store food in fridges."
Batchelor also makes sure that all her staff have been on the necessary training courses and that the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) training is up-to-date. In fact, her chef is due to attend another course imminently, and Batchelor has signed up to do her own refresher course soon.
"It's important to keep on top of the
training courses, as there's always new legislation coming out. Once we get all our new certificates, we will display them front-of-house for our customers to see - it gives them every confidence that you are doing things in the right way."
Batchelor explains that by following the Safer Food Better Business manual to the letter, she is extremely confident that the correct procedures are being carried out and adhered to by all her staff.
She says that this is so important because many of her customers are elderly, mentally handicapped and children - groups that are more susceptible to food poisoning than the average adult customer.
She says: "I think people get frightened about food safety, but it's really not that difficult. The worst bit is putting all the procedures in place, but the manual takes you through them step by step, and after that, they're very simple to maintain.
"I think some of the problems in kitchens arise because people can get lazy about keeping their records up-to-date. That's when things can go wrong. If you don't label all your food correctly, when the next shift comes in they will have no idea when the prawns were defrosted or when something was opened."
Batchelor says that she was very lucky, as the Kings Arms had a modern, refurbished kitchen, so following the FSA guidelines was relatively straightforward.
But she adds: "When one of my colleagues went into his pub, a lot of work had to be done to the kitchen, as it was in pretty bad shape. He got an environmental health officer (EHO) to come into the kitchen and give him advice on what was needed to bring it up to the required standard."
