Primary Authority – Food Hygiene Assured Advice Update Coming Soon!

Next year National Craft Butchers (NCB) will be updating and expanding its members only Primary Authority scheme, beginning with the launch of new and improved Food Hygiene Assured Advice in January.

From its initial launch in 2013, NCB members have been able to register for Primary Authority (PA) and the legally backed food hygiene advice it provides. Since this time, NCB have updated the advice in line with regulation changes, and in 2019 added a highly valued Charcuterie section.

We know how valued and helpful the advice has been over the past nine years, so are keen to provide the advice in a modern, accessible format that can be used either to help form your management system or be complimentary to your existing systems. Working with Safer Food Scores who NCB commission to advise members, the ‘new’ advice will cover all recent updates to regulation. We’ll also be introducing some helpful new sections as butchers continue to diversify.

How Primary Authority protects your business

The difference between our assured advice and advice you can receive from other sources is that it is developed specifically for butchers and also carries legal backing. This means that the advice must be interpreted in the same way by all regulators when inspecting participating businesses. Local councils must contact the Primary Authority before taking any action against participating businesses. Provided you have abided by Primary Authority advice this allows them to intervene on your behalf if necessary or to negotiate better compliance outcomes without the need for formal enforcement action. This is something that is not applicable to any other advice for butchers.

PA Assured Advice to be expanded to other areas

In the first half of 2023 NCB will also be adding Health and Safety Assured Advice to our PA partnership with Horsham District Council as well as launching a new coordinated partnership with East Sussex Council to offer members Trading Standards Assured Advice. Our Health and Safety Assured Advice will give guidance on risk assessments, enabling you to manage health and safety in your premises with confidence. Following on from this will be the launch of NCB’s Trading Standards Assured Advice. This will re-visit and where required update on the Natasha’s Law advice provided last year. It will also include labelling, weights and measures. As with all NCB’s assured advice this will be regularly updated and will cover any labelling changes in the next few years.

What members say about National Craft Butcher’s Primary Authority scheme

“Our Score on the Door rating has gone from a 4 to a 5 since we joined PA. Our local EHO’s are very aware of PA and very positive about it.”

“I encountered a problem with my local authority with automated record keeping but Horsham District Council managed to intercede on my behalf and smoothed things over. This action saved me a lot of time and money.”

“This is one of the best things that NCB have done for members in a long time. The advice is very well written and not too onerous for butchers to understand. It has linked in very well with my existing HACCP and only a few minor alterations were necessary. All my staff have read the assured advice and were enthusiastic and really engaged with the whole thing. It has proved to be a really helpful training aid in that respect.”

Sign up now!

Registration and access to NCB’s Primary Authority Scheme is a FREE benefit to Full NCB members

Register here – www.nationalcraftbutchers.co.uk/primary-authority-registration

Not an NCB member? Head to www.nationalcraftbutchers.co.uk/full-membership/  to

join, or call us on 01892 541412.