Discovering a food complaint, such as a foreign object in food, is a very unpleasant experience, but may not necessarily pose a serious health risk. It is important that officer time is spent dealing with food complaints where there is a risk to public health, such as:

• Food which is unfit for human consumption
• Food which contains a foreign object which poses a serious health risk (e.g. glass, metal)
• Food which contains any insects or other matter which suggests a particular problem at the place of retail sale, manufacture etc.

Option 1

Ask the Environmental Health Team to investigate. An officer will assess if the complaint is justified and if the complaint warrants further investigation because there is a risk to public health as detailed above. You will be informed if the officer intends to take no further action.

If the complaint does warrant further investigation, as a minimum, we will contact or visit the premises concerned, and where appropriate we will contact the local authority in whose area the complaint originates from.

You will be asked to sign a declaration of release form and must be willing to abide by the decision the Authority reaches at the conclusion of its investigation. You will also be asked to provide a witness statement. The Council is unable to negotiate compensation for complaints on your behalf.

Option 2

For non pre-packed fresh foods return the food, container etc to the shop from which it was purchased and ask to see the person in charge. For pre-packed foods write to or telephone the manufacturer.

The address should be on the package. Explain the nature of your complaint and ask them to investigate it. Ask them to write to you with their explanations of how the problem arose.

If after pursuing the matter with the relevant shop/company you are still not satisfied with their response you have the option to return to the Environmental Protection Service with details of your progress.

At this stage we may not be able to take any action other than to write to the company concerned noting their failure to satisfy you. We would hope that this would stimulate them into responding to your complaint and also enable us to record their failure and take this into account in any further dealings we might have with them.

Option 3

You may wish to take private legal action against the retailer/manufacturer. You should discuss this matter with a Solicitor.

If you decide you want this department to investigate, you should:

• Keep the food, any wrappings and labels and receipt safe
• Keep the food in its original container where possible
• Avoid handling foreign objects - if they are embedded in the food do not displace them
• Keep perishable foods in the fridge or freezer.