WARNING - BEWARE OF FREEZING FOOD WITH USE BY DATES

Everybody knows that when it comes to food wastage, one of the greatest food preservation techniques ever invented was the freezer.

When fresh, high risk, perishable food is frozen the deterioration stop watch grinds to a halt. The shelf life significantly increases as the act of freezing stops the growth of both spoilage and food poisoning organisms.

As a member of the public, you wouldn't think twice about popping a piece of fresh meat in the freezer, if you thought you weren't going to use it by the given use by date. It makes sense to freeze it rather than throw it away. But if you do freeze fresh food with a use by date and you are a food business owner and you intend to use the frozen food as part of your business and you keep the frozen food on your premises then BEWARE!!!!

In 2011 a meat processing company based in Wales was prosecuted by a local trading standards officer for having at his premises meat, with an expired use by date, that had been frozen. To cut a long story short, the case was heard and appealed at various courts and a final decision was made in 2013. The upshot of it being that the case on behalf of the prosecution was successful and the company was heavily fined.

Trading standards officers and court officials are trained in "fact" and there were two facts in this case:-

Fact 1. Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 states at Article 14 (1) "Food shall not be placed on the market if it is unsafe"

Fact 2. Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 states at Article 24 (1) "After the use by date a food shall be deemed to be unsafe"

Food safety officers are also trained in fact but they are also trained in risk and when they undertake a food hygiene inspection they assess the risk your business presents to your customers.

Although a food safety officer could initiate legal proceedings for the possession of "frozen" food beyond its use by date found on a premises it is probably unlikely that they would do so if you can prove when the food was frozen. Food safety officers recognise both the economic value and food safety benefits of the act of freezing food. Indeed, the most commonly used and nationally prepared generic catering HACCP plan, Safer Food Better Business states:-

"If you find that you have more food in stock than you need and you do not think you will use it all before the ‘use by’ date, you could freeze some of it to be used in the future. Follow the manufacturer’s instructions on freezing and label the food as appropriate."

Alternatively in OUR KITCHEN RULES it states at rule 17 on Hazard 3

     "  When we freeze fresh food with a use by date we label it with a “frozen on date” without obscuring the original use by date. When taking out of the freezer we label it with a “defrosted on date” and ensure it is used well within the remaining shelf life."

If you use either of these approaches then hopefully a food safety officer won't be seeking to take you to court BUT REMEMBER although your HACCP plan might be robust and you can demonstrate through it's use, that the food you sell is safe, you could still end up landing yourself in litigation  if you freeze fresh food with a use by date.

OUR KITCHEN RULES can be purchased by emailing 

artisanfood.angel@gmail.com

Regulation (EC) No 178/2002

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2002:031:0001:0024:en:PDF


Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32011R1169&from=EN