Report a concern about a food or food business

Concern about a food or food business should be reported to Environmental Health at Epping Forest DC or Essex Trading Standards at Essex County Council. Find out below what authority deals with your concerns and report accordingly.

Concerns to be reported to Essex Trading Standards

• Food which has been supplied or served to you and was not what you asked for.
• A food related incident involving the supply of food containing an allergen.
• Inadequate labelling of pre-packed food, e.g. no allergens listed.
• The sale of food beyond its ‘Use By’ date.
• The sale of food beyond the Best Before date where the quality of the product was not what you would expect (see more detail below).

There is no offence for selling food beyond the ‘Best Before’ or ‘Best Before End’ date, unless, the food was not of the quality you expected, for example, you bought a packet of biscuits beyond the best before date and they were stale.

You can report a concern to Trading Standards by

• Call 0345 603 7635
• Email Trading.Standards@Essex.gov.uk

Concerns to be reported to Environmental Health Officers

The following can be reported to Environmental Health Officers at Epping Forest DC.

• If you have eaten food which you believe has made you unwell and it was not due to an allergen,
• If you have been supplied food which is contaminated with foreign objects, such as glass or hair, with chemicals, was mouldy, or undercooked.
• If you have concerns about the hygiene of a food business including temperature control of chilled and frozen foods.

If you believe you have eaten food that has made you unwell, we will ask you to provide a stool sample, this is the only way in which we can confirm if you have had a food related illness. If you do not wish to provide a stool sample, you can still report your concern and we will keep it for our records. We will determine an appropriate response based on the information you provide and our knowledge of the business concerned.

We cannot act on your behalf to get apologies, refunds or compensation, this is a matter between the customer and the food business.

You can report a concern to Epping Forest District Council by

• Email environmentalhealth@eppingforestdc.gov.uk

Please provide as much detail as possible, as this will help us, to help you, as best we can.