Safer food means better business

It has therefore come as a great relief that the government has recognised this.

I've knocked past governments for not understanding our industry but on this occasion, at this stage, I think this decision is bang on. The next step will be to understand the budget split and if the FSA can still retain the majority of its £135M budget. Happy days!

One of the great things about the FSA is that it talks to caterers and not just at them. At Premier, we've developed a culture of food safety across foodservice that includes our sales and marketing teams and the FSA has helped us to develop a simple food safety management system based on hazard analysis critical control point.

This simple system gives us a framework to ensure that we work and present our food to a certified level of food hygiene. Everyone who handles food within our business is then armed with the tools and knowledge to make sure we not only show our food at its best, but at its safest.

As a chef you are always taught safety first and in the basic food triangle of safety, consistency and efficiency, food safety will (or should!) always come first.

Now that the department of health is responsible for nutritional policy, it will be interesting to see how it continues the great work the FSA has done with salt reduction. The FSA's progressive staggered approach to salt level reduction has given chefs, caterers and menu developers time to adapt and change their recipes and menus to suit consumers' taste buds across all sectors.

Mark Rigby is senior business development chef for Premier Foods

mark.rigby@premierfoods.co.uk