Lunch Vans

Just to reply to Pete's comments, I don't assume a van operator is less likely to have a food certificate. There appears to be some confusion to what a food certificate is. I know that any catering operation be it large or small is not given a food certificate, they are given an inspection report which identifies how much confidence an Environmentl Health Inspector has in that business with respects to food hygiene legislation. There are different levels of responsibility when it comes to catering and anyone operating a business on just a basic food hygiene certificate in my opinion is not enough and should have at least a Level 3 qualification in food safety.

I agree with Pete, with respects to customers can make their own judgement to whether food is safe to eat, and take Colin's advice be it a van, cafe or restaurant.

Im not sure why Anne would assume a van operator is any less likely to have a food certificate, I know several who have certificates, being self employed in a van doesnt instantly make you disregard what you would consider normal if you ran the same business from a small shop. The certificate is obtained after the most basic of multiple choice tests, normally after a few hours 'training' by the local council.

Any van would have to register with IT's local council, that being the one where the van is parked overnight, it would also be assessed by the local EHO & given a rating. Some of my local vans have 5/5, but local national chain resturants have 1/5.

The biggest hazard is the traveling to/fro in bad weather to the van. assuming employees have the apptitude to look at what someone is doing & decide if they appear to be preparing food cleanly & the food is refrigerated or kept very hot.

Environmental Health do not ban. They enforce Food Hygiene and H&S legislation by informal means or serving notice, and in rare cases by prosecution or closure where they need to prove "Imminent Danger" (suspicion that the next customer will come down with food poisoning) to a magistrate within 3 days. The food business must be registered at the address where it is kept at night, and it should've been inspected before it became operational - if registered. It would be interesting to find out who "banned" it. Quite a few complaints come from disgruntled customers and competitors. EH won't give specifics but should tell you when it was last inspected. I think you should find out a little more before making a decision. You can of course form your own opinion from what you see (general state of van, state of those running it - clean clothes, hat, finger nails, what they do when not busy such as clean etc). First impressions and gut feelings are often right. As ex EH I used to stand back and have a discreet look at these, before I announced myself. Hope this helps.

There is the issue of employees placing themselves at risk by consuming food from the mobile van. Anyone operating a business providing food to the general public have to be registered with the Environmental Health dept. They are unlikely to have a certificate of hygiene, but they may have an inspection report from the Environmental Health Official.

If as a company, you are inviting the mobile catering business to offer a service to your employees then a risk assessment, covering all aspects of food hygiene legislation should be carried out. Better still ask the local Environmental dept. to make an inspection. Look on scoresonthedoors.co.uk website, you will be able to see if your area is covered and it shows the outcomes of inspections in all sorts of catering organisations.

Thank you for your responses. Very much appreciated.

Anthony, I would check it out with the local authority first to see if they are licenced to operate and also ensure they have a certificate of hygiene. All the basic checks which you could ask them direct and they will answer if they want the business.

If they refuse or are difficult I would suspect they are not ligitimate and I would advise all staff not to use them, but that's as far as you can go in reality.

It may of course had been down to the awful food...!

Ah...sounds like the good old 'use health & safety as a tool to get what we want' scenario. If you're considering reinstating it, I suggest first finding out why it was stopped & then look at risk assessing it (is it parked in a dangerous place for instance).

Hi,
I have recently joined a company as the Facilities Manager and been made aware that a previous lunch van that we had attend site was banned for "Health & Safety reasons". Are there any regulations as to whether or not these vans can attend or is it just the preference of the company?

Thanks