Food Safety Complaints

We will investigate food complaints that pose a public health risk, including food that:

• is not safe to eat or makes you ill
• is so contaminated that it could not reasonably be eaten, for example a mouldy pie
• contains a foreign object, for example glass in a loaf of bread.

If you have purchased food that you are not satisfied with or have concerns about a food premises you should:

• speak to the business where you bought or ate the food first as they may be able to deal with your complaint

If this is not possible or you still wish to make a complaint:

• try to keep any packaging associated with the food
• if it is a highly perishable product store it in the freezer until you can bring it to our offices.

Make a food safety complaint

To make a food safety complaint contact the Environmental Health Team.

The action we can take

We can investigate complaints about the condition of food premises, food practices, suspected food poisoning  and complaints about the condition of food.

Hertfordshire Trading Standards can enforce issues around food labelling. 

To take formal action there must be:

• a risk to public health
• a good chain of evidence, including details of where and when the food was bought and any relevant packaging
• evidence that the company concerned has not taken all reasonable steps to prevent the problem.

We will not get involved in compensation claims. These are a civil matter that you must take up with the manufacturer and if necessary, the courts.