7 replies to this topic

[Eve]

Hello Everyone,
Things are moving on with our farm, we eventually managed to get an address, we are now a registered business, we have an accountant, we are currently in the middle of our first lambing and the first of our 5 in pig sows are due to farrow in 2 weeks! Our newly purchased boar will arrive in June and wil be put to work straight away! The icing on the cake is that we have a waiting lists for eggs, lamb, hoggett & pork! Our first two pigs sold out in 48 hours, these were really ment for us, family & friends but mostly went to current egg customers. So, a bit late, but really need to sort out the legalities, I've contacted environmental heath, but they have yet to get back to me (a fortnight ago 😡), so will chase them again today, basically I'd like to know what I have to do to pass... I was hoping to store all current meat in a fridge & freezer in a shed in my garden, with a table & cool box to sort local deliveries (nothing else stored in the shed)... Obviously this is only until I can get power and a container on the farm. Would this be acceptable do you think?
Public & product liability - who do you insure with, what does it cover and how much does it cost???!
I've asked for two quotes, one from NFU, their underwriters have requested a site visit next week! And another from cliveton, which came in at £817 😱😥
I hope you're all enjoying the drier weather, I have to say I'm not sorry to see the back of the winter mud!
Xx

[Phae]

Hi Eve,
Wow, you are doing well! Well done! I know quite lot about EH from a catering perspective (had my own catering business for 15 years) , not farming, but their criteria will be the same. You will need to register as a food business and getting in touch with them is the first step towards this.
They are interested in things like all surfaces being wipeable/ easily able to be washed down/ sanitised for each stage of your operation. If you are only receiving back from butchers/abbatoir pre-packed meat this won't concern you too much but if you are doing any food prep with raw meat (e.g. making your own sauasges) you will classed a s a high risk business and they will want a big list of stuff like a separate handsink etc.
Temperature control is gonna be an issue and you are gonna need to check temps of fridge freezers every day and record these on a chart.
You will need a cleaning rota and state which cleaning agents/equipment/ sanitisers you will use.
You may need your basic food hygiene certificate.
You may need a uniform/ hair coverings etc.if you prepare food
You will need to prove you have a pest control plan, this could be an electric fly killer or a full on contract with a company to bait for rats. If they ever find an infestation they will shut you down, so take this seriously.
They will require you to write everything down for every part of the process. This is called HACCP, hazard analysis, critical control points and identifies all the things that could go wrong with your processes e.g. freezer breaks down and defrosts everything. You then state what steps you are planning to take to avoid this happening and keep the public safe e.g. check temps and record, have back up freezer if breaks down etc.
They will come and visit you, so best to have some stuff down on paper to show them you are thinking in the right direction. They will give you tons of advice and are generally quite helpful. But you do need to follow their advice as if they think you are a risk to public health they can and will shut you down.
This is a big area and not sure how much actual raw food handling you are doing, so happy to give more info if you need it.
Phae

[Eve]

Thank you so much Phae that's really helpful, I don't intend to do any prep, it's purely storage. My butcher cuts all joints, makes sausages, labels everything with weights, prices and ingredients and then vacuum packs.
I have an old chest freezer, a newer large fridge and a back up old fridge freezer... I plan to get thermometers for them all and could have a chart to show checking twice daily? The table and cool box would be completely wipedownable and I could put some alcohol gel there?
No rodent problems in the last 10 years, but could put a bait box down?
Do you think I will need a food hygiene certificate?
I just want to keep on the right side of the law!
Also a pub has shown interest, but I was thinking if their meat came directly from the butchers it would satisfy any stricter regulations, if there are any?!?
Xx

[Phae]

Hi Eve,
Okay, fairly simple then. The strip thermometers aren't very accurate. You would be better getting a digital probe one (EBay) which you need to place between your packs of meat in the fridge freezer and leave a few minutes then read and write down. This ensures you are taking the food temp and not the air temp. Get some alcohol probe wipes too. Freezer should be less than -18 degrees and fridge is 0-5 degrees for general food but I have a feeling it is under 3 for raw meat? Better check as they change the regs every couple of years.
I would def get the pub to buy straight from the butcher, less hassle for you.
I would still write out a simple HACCP and cleaning rota etc as the EH needs to see you are aware of the regs and procedures for keeping good safe. Yes to bait box, they will love it that you are thinking of what could go wrong and planning for it, that is their whole ethos.
So when they come round on can say I'm doing this, this and this to prevent this happening. They will tell you anything else you need to be doing.
Good luck! Phae x

[Smudge]

Hi Eve - very impressed with your sales! Could you give me an idea of how you generate so much interest? 

Re public and product liability insurance - we've got it but very expensive at around £600 a year! Ridiculous but has to be done I suppose.

[Eve]

Thanks again Phae, I'm still waiting for environmental health to get back to me... Again But I'll go ahead and put your advice into practice so that I can be vaguely ready!
Smudge, could I ask who you are insured with? Things have taken off much quicker than we ever imagined or planned for! Most of our custom has just come from passer by's, those interested in what we were doing while we have been putting in fences, coops, arcs and animals! We have good road frontage, next to a golf course and affluent villages so I guess that's a big bonus, we've yet to put up any signage or finish our website, hopefully when that happens things will really take off. We do have a Facebook page, which a few people have contacted me through, but I only have a few 'likes'... I posted on a local village FB site (one that I have to drive through daily to get to and from the farm) that I was doing an egg delivery run and had some spare boxes if anyone would like some, that one post now clears all my eggs weekly and added 13 people to a waiting list!
When we sent our first couple of pigs off, every egg customer (bar the one veggie!) ordered meat. Most of my friends and family think I'm mad, I sell my eggs for £1 (in a beautiful box!) and deliver for free, I welcome any families to collect their own eggs and 'help' me feed the animals, which often takes a great deal of time, but my theory is, be super nice to everyone and build a great reputation that way we will hopefully add to our business and add support for any future planning applications. (I've already had a complete stranger, a friend of an egg customer, who had some of our pork at a party tell me how amazing our pork was, how he loved what we we doing, how hard we were obviously working, but our prices were way too low! He happened to be on the parish council and even suggested that we put in for a dwelling and assured us that it would be well supported!)
Sadly I'm so busy with all the animals we weren't planning on having just yet, that I still haven't finished our business plan, or applied for our barn! We just seem to be jumping from one crisis to the next, although trying to seem calm and professional to onlookers! I'm sure one day it'll all get a little simpler, well I guess it would if I hadn't already almost run out of funds!... Anyone have a spare 50k for leccy & a barn???
xXx

[Greenbeast]

Sadly I'm so busy with all the animals we weren't planning on having just yet, that I still haven't finished our business plan, or applied for our barn! We just seem to be jumping from one crisis to the next, although trying to seem calm and professional to onlookers! I'm sure one day it'll all get a little simpler, well I guess it would if I hadn't already almost run out of funds!... Anyone have a spare 50k for leccy & a barn???
xXx

 

get ready for that to be the rest of your life ha ha

[Eve]

get ready for that to be the rest of your life ha ha

Lol! I'm trying to pretend it'll all get easier, don't burst my bubble!