What are food standards?
Food standards relate to the quality, composition, labelling, presentation and advertising of all food and of materials or articles in contact with food. Food standards laws can be complex and numerous.
Businesses must follow the law in relation to:
- The labelling and advertising of food
- The composition of food – labelling of a food product must be an accurate reflection of the composition of the product e.g. 100 per cent beef burger should only contain beef
- The nature, substance and quality of food e.g. cod and chips should be just that and not substituted with other fish
- False and misleading claims about food e.g. you must be able to verify claims like 'local', 'homemade', 'fresh', 'natural', 'organic' and 'free-range'
- Nutritional information must be accurate
Food allergies
For interactive training please visit the FSA website for their food allergy training tool which highlights steps that should be followed to make sure good practice is used in the manufacture and production of food.
Visit the allergen guidance page on the FSA website to access a variety of tools available to businesses to help comply with legal requirements including allergen charts, chef recipe charts and an allergy and intolerance sign.
Where do I go for advice on food labelling?
To find out what the law says on labelling and packaging visit business companion website. This website provides various in-depth guides on specific topics related to food and drink.
The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) is responsible for standards legislation in England that is principally non-safety related. The publish guidance on the composition and labelling of a variety of foodstuffs. The Food Standards Agency (FSA) also produce information on food standards that are principally safety based.
If you would like advice or to make a complaint about food standards please contact the Food and Safety team, details below or fill in our food safety online reporting form.
Contact details
Hammersmith & Fulham Council
The Environment Department
Food and Safety Team
Hammersmith Town Hall
London
W6 9JU
020 8753 1081
foodandsafety@lbhf.gov.uk