Garthorpe Health and Safety

Garthorpe racecourse H&S guide for food and drink vendors and children’s amusement operators

If you wish to sell raw or cooked food or drinks or you wish to provide children’s amusements (carousels, slides and the like) at Garthorpe race-course, you are strongly advised to read and comply with what follows. If you don’t, you will be asked to change your way of working and may be asked to cease trading.

These requirements have been put together with the kind assistance of Melton Mowbray Borough Environmental Health department, although the interpretation is our own. Please note that in addition to any checks undertaken by point-to-point H&S officials, your stand may also be subject to inspection by local authority Environmental Health officers.

Amusements

You must comply with current safety regulations.

You will be asked to produce a current third-party liability insurance certificate covering risks up to at least £1M. You will be asked to produce a current ADIPS equipment safety certificate or, for bouncy castles and other inflatables, a PIPA certificate.

If you cannot show these, you will not be allowed to operate.

Food and drink

You must comply with current food safety regulations.

You must be registered with your own local authority and you will be asked who this is.

You must have a completed up-to-date copy of the ‘Safer Food Better Business’ (or equivalent) record-keeping pack.

You will be asked to produce a current third-party liability insurance certificate covering risks up to at least £1M.

If you cannot do so, you will not be allowed to trade.

Ready-to-go food and drink

All ready-to-eat food – and this includes confectionery – must either be pre-packed or presented under an insect-proof cover.

Although the need for chilling varies widely by product, you be expected to offer the following chilled to less than 8˚C (ideally less than 5˚C):

  • soft or semi-hard ripened cheeses
  • cooked products such as meat, fish, eggs and soft cheese
  • sandwiches or similar containing fillings or toppings made with these.

You must have some means of checking the temperature within your cool-box or fridge (a portable dial-type thermometer is fine), but if you also cook food this thermometer must be additional to any thermometer used for checking cooking temperatures.

We do not subscribe to the ‘no need to chill’ dispensation for some ready-to-eat foods that are on display for less than four hours.

If you serve drinks and the cups used are not disposable, washing facilities for them must be provided (see Hygiene below). If you dispense mixed drinks such as Pimms Cup from a jug, you must keep the jug covered.

Storage

Garthorpe is not a typical ‘market stall’ environment, and your stand may be in direct sunlight for six hours or more. If you cook raw meats (burgers, sausages and the like), you should ensure that your meat container does not contain materials at widely different temperatures. This can occur after a couple of hours when (e.g.) burger patties at the top of a cool-box warm up (even when the lid contains a freezer pack) while the ones at the bottom remain frozen. This itself is not a problem, but unless cooking time is continually adjusted so that everything is thoroughly cooked (e.g. by using a temperature probe regularly), it is all too easy to sell things that are insufficiently cooked at the centre
while appearing well-cooked on the outside.

While there is no requirement for raw meats to be chilled before cooking, we would advise you to chill them in the same manner as ready-to-go food and to ensure that everything is at a uniform temperature (to avoid subsequent undercooking, as described above).

Fresh meats

If you sell vacuum or modified atmosphere packed raw meat, it must be stored at less than 8˚C (ideally less than 5˚C). If you sell raw meat which is simply overwrapped, it need not be chilled although you
may wish to do so to prevent it tainting in hot weather.

Hygiene

If everything you supply is pre-packed, this section does not apply to you.

For hand washing, you must have a towel or disposable towels and a supply of water (preferably but not necessarily hot) and detergent (or soap or antibacterial wash). Water-free hand sanitiser is a useful extra but it is not a substitute for washing with water.

If you need to wash cooking implements, you will need washing facilities which are separate from those used for hand-washing.

If you need both types of washing facility, it is acceptable to provide one ‘mini-shower’ where water is sprayed over hands or implements and there is no sink (you will also need towels and some cleansing additive such as a detergent).

Use of caterers’ hygienic (‘blue’) gloves will not be regarded as an alternative to having hand-washing facilities, even when one operative only serves while another only handles money.

Gas

If you use a gas burner for cooking or heating, you will be asked to produce a service record made within the last twelve months by a Gas Safe registered engineer who is certified to work on LPG mobile equipment. There is no exemption for single appliance / single bottle portable installations, contrary to popular belief.

If you have more than one appliance fed by one bottle, or more than one appliance / bottle combination, this will need to be set up each time by a registered engineer, so – in practice – such combinations will need to be built in to a vehicle or trailer and certified annually as a fixed installation.

Electricity

If you use electrical equipment that is powered at 120volts or higher (and that includes UK mains voltage), you will be asked to produce an electrical test service record made within the last twelve months by a Building Regulations ‘Part P competent’ engineer or C&G 2377 certified engineer or equivalent. Free-standing generators need separate certification.

Griddles

If you use a griddle or turn-spit, it must be positioned such that children cannot touch it. A griddle facing your customers must at ‘adult’ height or else it must be positioned sideways away from the public.

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