Selling Jam and Chutneys part 2...

Trading Standards

After a successful meeting with my local Environmental Health Office, the next step in selling my own jams and chutneys was to arrange a meeting with Trading Standards.

Trading Standards cover a number of areas including age restricted products, animal health and warfare, haulage etc.  They are also responsible for food labelling, so it has been rather a busy time for them recently!

I had already done a bit of research about food labelling including looking at the Trading Standards websites, reading European legislation (life’s too short…) and speaking to a couple of people selling their own home made jams at Farmers Markets.  This all resulted in me being rather confused and overwhelmed about the whole thing. 

I think it is usually helpful to speak to someone face-to-face and arranged a meeting with an officer from my local Trading Standards.  At the moment they come out to you for free, but this may change.

I have heard some horror stories about Trading Standards, but I found them helpful, sensible and realistic.  However, this lady did note that you should always talk to your local Trading Standards as they can differ about how prescriptive they can be.

The key pieces of advice I received included:

·      If you are doing direct sales, as I am initially planning to, you need less information on the label than if you are selling via a shop or other distributor

·      If you are selling jams then you will need to show fruit content (grams per kilogram)

·      It is advisory to include a ‘Best Before’ date but it isn’t currently a legal requirement (be aware that regulations do change)

·      You should have a batch number

·      Recommended jam and pickle making kit includes a trade-approved weighing machine to check the jar size and a refractometre, which measures sugar levels including what occurs naturally in fruit.

·      They would frown on your label showing an idyllic country cottage if you live in a housing estate

·      I can put homemade on the label, but if my business takes off and I need to scale up to having an industrial unit then I won’t be able to put this on the label.

·      You need to be aware of allergens, which include nuts (obviously) and celery (who knew!)

As a result of this meeting I have now designed my labels and started working out the fruit contents in jams, jellies and onion content in chutneys (which still makes my brain hurt).

The next step will be to bite the bullet -not literally, as that would definitely count as a ‘foreign body’ in my blackberry jam! - and start selling at a community, country or farmers market.

Selling Jam and Chutneys

Food Hygiene

The next block in the building of the Auntie Allie Empire is to sell my own jams and chutneys, made from produce I have foraged, grown on my allotment or sourced from local, organic suppliers.  (Of course when I say ‘Empire’ I am just planning to sell a few jars at a local community market but, as they say, from small acorns…)

There are certain rules and regulations concerning the selling of your home made produce most of which can be found on the Food Standards Agency and your local council websites.

However, it can all be rather confusing and I believe the best approach is to make contact with people directly.  I phoned my local Environmental Health Office from the District Council and set up a meeting with them.

A lovely lady came out to my house (which is where I am going to be making my produce) for an informal chat and to pass on all the advice she could, which included:

• My kitchen didn’t need to permanently be at a business level of cleanliness in case of checks.  When I’m making produce for my business I need to ‘close it’ from being a normal kitchen, give it a top to bottom clean, ensure the surfaces are tidy, that any hand washing is done in the cloak room sink, that there is no other food preparation taking place.
• You should have a checklist for each batch made to show the cleaning and food safety checks you have done, which would need to be shown at any inspection.
• You should have good systems for stock control and logging of suppliers etc.
• It is fine to use an environmentally friendly multi-purpose cleaner, rather than an industrial strength disinfectant.
• That it was sensible to get separate ‘business’ equipment, including washing up bowl, a bowl for washing fruit, utensils etc.
• That the biggest problem they find is ‘foreign bodies’ in produce and so it is advisory, but not compulsory, to wear a catering style hat, as well as clean clothes and an apron.

If you are going to be selling your own produce you need to do a food hygiene course.  Because I am planning such a small-scale business, an on-line food hygiene course is sufficient.  The Environmental Health Officer also noted that I had demonstrated a sound understanding of food hygiene principles (or common sense as I like to call it) and she was therefore happy to recommend that level of course.

The visit enabled her to confirm that my kitchen is suitable for making homemade produce and the surfaces are a material, which they are happy with.

You hear some horror stories about how unfair the officials have been, but I believe that a face-to-face meeting is helpful in establishing a personal contact and opening the lines of communication.  Most of the complaints they deal with concern supermarkets and foreign bodies in food.  They get very few complaints about artisan producers because we take such pride in producing good food.  However, having met me, if there were now to be a complaint, she would be inclined to know it was a genuine mistake and feel happy to contact me informally in the first instance.

At the moment this visit is free, but with all the cuts taking place in councils, I don’t know how long this will be the case.

I was also given the phone number to order a useful document called ‘Safer Food Better Business for Caterers’, which is a jargon-free pack demonstrating what you do to sell food that is safe to eat and have records of this.  Again, this document is currently free, but it may not be for long.

So, that is now another step on the path to selling my own produce.

Right, must just wash my hands (again).