An Overview of Retail Food Hygiene in Europe - Retail Food Safety - page 94

durability which is defi ned as the “date until which the foodstuff retains its specifi c
properties when properly stored” (Directive 2000/13/EC of the European Parliament
and the Council of 20 March 2000 (Anon. 2000b ) as repealed by Regulation (EU)
No 1169/2011 of the European Parliament and the Council of 25 October 2011
(Anon. 2011b )). For foods that from a microbiological perspective are highly per-
ishable and will therefore constitute an immediate health risk after a short period,
the words “use by” (or equivalent member state term) must precede the date code,
i.e., use by 25 DEC. All other foods must be coded with the terms “best before or
best before end”.
This does not extend to foods prepared on retail premises and sold to the con-
sumer e.g., from service counters such as the delicatessen.
Stock rotation is a key part of managing the safety, quality and indeed the com-
mercial success of a retail operation. Selling food beyond its use by date is illegal
and good management of stock and associated stock rotation is key to this. It is
normal practice to manage stock inventory in both large and small stores to ensure
reconciliation of goods, although this can vary between basic manual systems
through to sophisticated computer-based systems.

7.5.3 Physical

7.5.3.1 Infestation

The main pest infestation risks are presented to ambient areas of retail storage as
neither the chillers nor freezers present hospitable environments for most pests. The
key controls have already been outlined for distribution storage areas (see
Sect. 7.4.3.1 ) and these equally apply in retail storage; storing product off the fl oor
on pallets or roll cages to allow easy access for cleaning; removing spillages quickly
to prevent access to food; maintaining fabrication of fl oors, walls, cabling and other
harbourage points to ensure they are sealed and no access is provided for pests to set
up 'home'; rotating stock.
It is also useful to monitor pest activity using appropriately sited electronic fl y
killers, rodent traps, monitors, etc. The services of third party pest control contrac-
tors is important in designing pest control and monitoring programmes, but it is
important to recognise that the management of infestation is essentially through the
routine adoption of good hygiene and manufacturing practice by the food business
operator and not through the delegation to the pest contractor.
The key food safety points for receipt and in store storage are summarised in
Table 7.4 .