Safer food, better business toolkit for local authorities

The full toolkit, which can be found at the links towards the end of this page, is for local authorities in England and Wales.

Action to date by local authorities through the Safer food, better business initiative has proved to be a major success story, with benefits for small businesses and ultimately consumers. The SFBB toolkit continues the Agency's commitment to collaborative working with local authorities both on the SFBB initiative and on wider food enforcement matters.

The toolkit contains support materials to complement both SFBB packs for caterers and for retailers, and includes the following:

• examples of case studies
• updated guidance on evaluation of SFBB implementation
• guidance for developing customer feedback forms
• A4 and A5 leaflets for SFBB for caterers and SFBB for retailers
• amended catering workshop presentation and guidance notes
• SFBB for retailers workshop presentation and guidance notes
• selection of quizzes and exercises for use in both catering and retail workshops
• revised SFBB for caterers reference copy
• SFBB for retailers reference copy

The toolkit includes advice on SFBB and more information about support materials can be found below.

The case studies are examples of businesses that have successfully implemented SFBB. These may be useful for distributing at workshops to emphasise the simplicity of SFBB.

The tips were collected during the trials and implementation of SFBB and highlight what worked for those local authorities involved.

The guidance on assessing SFBB and progress evaluation form were developed specifically to evaluate the implementation of SFBB. The guidance, which was issued in early 2006, has now been updated to include guidance for assessing retail businesses. The evaluation form has been slightly amended. It is intended that food enforcement officers use the form as part of their routine food hygiene inspections where applicable.

The guidance includes examples of questions that could be used to produce a customer feedback form to evaluate SFBB workshops.

An A4-size leaflet and an A5-size leaflet has been designed, these can be used to recruit businesses for workshops or to provide them with some introductory information. The artwork can be personalised as required. The leaflets are available for both SFBB for caterers and SFBB for retailers. A new leaflet has been produced incorporating all the SFBB packs and the DVD.

The revised guidance notes and supporting slides provide the content for an SFBB for caterers workshop which includes why businesses are attending, what is SFBB, how it works, and the next steps a business has to take. The slides are designed to be used offline so please download to your desktop. These slides are a suggested template and they can be personalised by the tutor as they wish. Exercises are included throughout the guidance notes. Guidance notes and supporting slides for SFBB for retailers workshops are also available.

The quizzes and exercises can be used in workshops to make them more interactive. These have been adapted for SFBB for caterers and SFBB for retailers.

This short film is included as a tool that could be used during workshops. It illustrates the dangers of working in a kitchen and how they can be avoided. This film formed part of the Agency's Food Hygiene Campaign in 2003 and was originally distributed to food businesses on a VHS video. The film lasts approximately eight minutes.