Bureau Veritas releases Food Emergency Preparedness Pack for tackling Covid-19 risks
As the Covid-19 restrictions are extended until May in the UK, leading compliance expert Bureau Veritas has released a new Food Emergency Preparedness Pack to help businesses in the food sector respond rapidly to the challenges posed by the ongoing global pandemic.
Despite government information and guidance from the Food Standards Agency emphasising that it is very unlikely that the Covid-19 virus can be caught from food, safety remains a vitally important consideration for the industry. As such, the 14-page document has been created by Bureau Veritas to help businesses through the food value chain to identify and address the most common risk factors that coronavirus presents to their employees, business operations, and service users.
The pack highlights stringent health and hygiene guidelines for key food workers, including increasing normal frequencies of handwashing, cleaning and waste disposal processes and implementing control measures where social distancing may not be achievable, for instance in food processing environments. It also offers specific advice for takeaways, such as ensuring customers and staff adhere to ‘social distancing’, regularly disinfecting touchpoints such as paying terminals and door handles and accepting contactless payments where possible.
Ken Smith, UK chief executive at Bureau Veritas UK, said: “Following the success of our initial sector-wide Emergency Preparedness Pack, we have now released a specialised pack specific to the food sector, to help key workers in this field to understand and mitigate the risks presented by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“With the initial period of lockdown extended by a further three weeks at least, it is imperative that businesses consistently review and adapt their ways of working to ensure compliance to government guidelines. This is particularly important for the food industry which is of course a key working sector and seeing a higher than normal influx of demand, due to customers bulk-buying or households opting for a takeaway where they may usually go out for dinner.”
The Food Emergency Preparedness Pack also highlights a new temporary process of remote auditing, completed via assessment questionnaires and video calls with Bureau Veritas experts, so businesses within the industry can ensure their management system audits are certified and up to date. The testing, inspection and certification expert is also going one step further, by creating a food helpline where the Bureau Veritas food team will use its sector knowledge and regulatory understanding to support businesses through their current health and safety and compliance challenges.
Smith added: “As we continue to push through this period of uncertainty, this guide also offers practical advice on maintaining compliance through digital remote auditing, and utilising our e-learning and virtual classroom offering to get support on a wide range of topics, delivered by our food specialists.
“At Bureau Veritas, we’re closely following government, HSE and FSA guidance and where possible, we will continue to assist clients remotely and on site where it’s essential, appropriate and safe.”
To download Bureau Veritas’ Food Emergency Preparedness Pack, visit: https://share.hsforms.com/1634jwFGWQ9qabzrRYxdtrw2z02a.
