Food safety

The Environmental Health service is here to ensure that food and drink produced or sold in Southampton is safe. We do this by:
• Inspecting food businesses in the city, to make sure that they follow the hygiene regulations and are handling food safely
• Investigating complaints about food businesses operating in the city
• Sampling of food and drink to check that it does not contain bacteria which could cause food poisoning
• Investigating food poisoning cases, to try to identify the cause and taking action to prevent further cases
• Providing advice and information to people operating food businesses in the city. We can give advice on food hygiene; health and safety in a food business; and controlling the noise and odour caused by a food business.

Registering food business premises

The law requires food business operators to register their premises with the Environmental Health service at least 28 days before starting to operate. If you are planning to start a food business in Southampton, you should complete the registration form below and send it to the Environmental Health service or register online. This form should also be used if you are taking over an existing business. Registering the premises is free of charge.

For further information about the food safety in Southampton please use links to the left.