Those who are looking after food retail businesses are often going to find themselves stuck in a variety of quandaries related to the law.
For obvious and necessary reasons, there are a lot of legal issues that surround the sale of food and related products, and it’s something that food retailers need to be strongly and fully aware of if they are to run the business properly and avoid getting in trouble.
Here are some of the common legal slip-ups that food retailers are often guilty of, and which should be avoided as best as possible in the future.
Poor Pest Control
Pest control is actually an issue in all kinds of retail and many businesses in other sectors too, but as you might imagine it can be especially relevant in the world of food retail.
After all, the last thing anyone needs is for mice, rats and other animals to be anywhere near food, as this can cause illnesses and other health issues easily enough.
Good pest control is therefore necessary and wise, including regular audits by a professional pest control team and ensuring that employees are aware of the signs of pests in a retail environment.
Failures In The Cold Chain
The cold chain refers to the necessity for many foods to be kept within a certain temperature zone at all times.
That means that during packaging, transportation, stocking, shelving and sale, the product in question has to remain within the legal limit for that particular kind of food product at all times. If it is not, that is a serious legal issue, and one that can – and frequently does – land a food retail company in trouble.
The solutions are simple: proper food safety & temperature monitoring, adequate control of supply chains, and an awareness of the acceptable temperatures of different kinds of food.
Ignoring Limitations On Imports
There are always going to be various limitations in place regarding which parts of the world a food retail company can import from, and this is something that needs to be paid attention to.
It can be shocking to discover that this is frequently overlooked or ignored, and that therefore a lot of food does get into the country from places which we don’t legally allow. Anyone in charge of a food business needs to make sure that they stay on top of these limitations and work within them at all times.
Mislabelled Food
People deserve to know what exactly they are eating, and what exactly it consists of. When this particular law is breached, it is often seen as particularly injurious to not just public health, but the perception of the brand – as when the horsemeat scandal hit the headlines a few years ago.
All food must be labeled properly, and correctly, to ensure that people always know what they are actually eating. Any time this rule is ignored, it can potentially put people in harm’s way, so it’s something that CEOs of food retail businesses should be keenly aware of at all times.
