BUSINESSES handling food have backed new hygiene rules to meet European standards. An order has been passed under the local food and drugs law to ensure that all establishments handling and selling food here and in Herm and Alderney adhere to strict requirements.

The three guidelines comprise training all handlers, traceability of food and hazard analysis.

Roll Bar owner Dino Faria said: ‘It is excellent because hygiene standards have got to be maintained.

‘It’s important that people are very careful when handling food.’

In Mr Faria’s kitchen, all staff must wear a hat and gloves, which are changed regularly.

‘Everybody who handles food on the premises is trained to the highest hygiene standards,’ said Mr Faria, who has run it for nine years.

A leaflet explaining the changes will be distributed in the next week to all registered food businesses.

But Le Nautique Restaurant owner and chef Gunter Botzenhardt said hygiene was common sense and traceability of food could be difficult.

‘The two things that spring to mind are hedge veg and local fishermen, because am I now required to make sure that all my suppliers have certificates?’ he said.

‘What do I say to the little old lady who comes to sell me what she has grown in her greenhouse once a year, because she won’t be able to provide any official documentation?

‘That’s the one thing that worries me – how it will hit the small local producers.’

Deputy chief environmental health officer Tony Rowe agreed that many businesses were already carrying out some of the requirements prior to legislation coming into force.

‘Guernsey’s food safety legislation is now compatible with the best in Europe,’ he said.

‘The department has assisted with training packages and advice on ‘hazard analysis by critical control point’ procedures, including seminars in using the Food Standards Agency’s Safer Food, Better Business pack, which will enable businesses to comply with HACCP requirements.’

* Further information can be obtained by calling 711161.