Food Hygiene Policy

Policy Statement

Cavendish Homecare Professionals fully complies with Regulation 14, Meeting Nutritional and Hydration Needs, of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014.

This states that clients should have food and drink that is handled, stored, prepared and delivered in a way that meets the requirements of the Food Safety Act 1990.

Policy

Cavendish Homecare Professionals operates the following procedures:

  • All food should be prepared, cooked, stored and presented in accordance with the high standards required by the Food Safety Act 1990 and the Food Hygiene (England) Regulations 2006.
  • In all cases where the food is to be prepared in a client’s home a preliminary risk assessment of the available food preparation and storage facilities should be carried out. Where a home requires improvements or changes these should be discussed with the client or their family prior to food preparation taking place. Where conditions are assessed as unacceptable then alternative methods of food provision should be sought.
  • Nursing and Care Staff should keep all food preparation areas, storage areas and serving areas clean while they are using them. All tools and equipment such as knives, utensils and chopping boards must also be cleaned regularly during the cooking process.
  • Adequate sanitary and hand-washing facilities should be available within the kitchen. All staff must wash their hands before and after handling foodstuffs. All foodstuffs should also be washed before use.
  • Everyone in a food handling area must maintain a high level of personal cleanliness and food handlers must wear suitable clean and, where appropriate, protective clothing.
  • Staff preparing food should take all reasonable, practical steps to avoid the risk of contamination of food or ingredients.
  • Food storage areas should protect food against external sources of contamination such as pests.
  • Food handlers must receive adequate supervision, instruction and training in food hygiene.
  • When serving food, appropriate hygiene standards should be scrupulously observed by all staff.
  • Suspected outbreaks of food related illness should be reported immediately to the client’s GP.
  • Any staff who become ill whilst handling food should stop work at once and report to the manager.

In addition nurses and carers should:

  • Always wash their hands after visiting the toilet.
  • Ensure that all food stored in the refrigerator is covered and adequately chilled.
  • Ensure the thorough cooking and re-heating of all meat, especially poultry.
  • Ensure the deep frozen food is thawed before cooking (especially important when using a microwave oven).
  • Be aware of the risk of Salmonella infection associated with foods containing uncooked eggs such as mayonnaise and certain puddings.
  • Wash hands after handling raw meat or eggs, particularly before handling other foods.
  • Never re-use utensils with which raw eggs or meat have been prepared without first washing them with hot water and detergent.
  • Never allow juices from raw meat to come into contact with other foods (cooked food and uncooked food should not be stored together).
  • Avoid serving raw eggs (or uncooked foods made from them) to vulnerable people such as the elderly and the sick (all eggs should be cooked until they are hard – both yoke and white).

Training

Food hygiene training forms part of the annual Mandatory Training for all staff.

 

 

Date: January 2024

Version: 7 (Review)