Our food team is readily available to advise you on food-related issues. If you are a consumer and you’ve eaten food that has made you ill, you’ve had an allergic reaction to food or you’ve bought an item of food in Armagh that you believe is contaminated in some way, visit our food complaints section
We investigate complaints of alleged illnesses from the consumption of food, foreign body contamination by metal, glass, plastic etc, contamination by animal and vegetable matter, rodents and mould growth, product labelling irregularities, and hygiene conditions in premises.
Anyone with a complaint about food they have purchased or food premises they have visited in the Armagh City and District Council area should use the details below to contact Environmental Health staff. All food and foreign body complaints should be stored in the fridge in a secure package. Avoid handling the complaint and retain all packaging and receipts.
The Department procures routine samples of food from food premises. These are sent for laboratory analysis to assess microbiological quality, composition and labelling.
You may contact our Food Safety Officers at:
Environmental Health Department
Council Offices
The Palace Demesne
Armagh, BT60 4EL
Telephone: 028 3752 9626
Textphone: 18001 028 3752 600
Online: Citizen’s Say
Email: ehealth@armagh.gov.uk
Fax: 028 3752 7184
What happens first?
The officer investigating the complaint will:
- confirm details of your complaint with you
- provide you with an initial assessment of your complaint
- and give you details of how to keep in touch with us.
If you have a sample of the food we’ll ask you to bring it into our offices.
As part of your complaint the premises that sold you the food may be visited and inspected.
If your food wasn’t purchased in Armagh, you’ll be asked to contact the local authority where you made your purchase. We can assist with contact details so that you can contact them directly. Alternatively, we can refer the complaint for you.
If you have a disability and are unable to come to the office we can arrange to collect the food sample from you.
What if I don’t live in Armagh?
If you don’t live in Armagh you may be able to take the food to your own local authority, which can arrange to send it to us. It’s advisable to telephone first to check whether your local authority can assist.
If you have the receipt and any labelling or packaging for the food, please bring them with you. If you can’t visit our offices immediately, it’s usually advisable to freeze the product if it is perishable.
Information we require
When we contact you we’ll ask for additional information. We need to know:
- where and when you bought the food
- how you discovered the cause for complaint
- how you stored the food since you bought it
- how the food was packaged when you bought it
- how your complaint affected you. (For example, were you injured or ill, did you lose any money as a result?)
- as your complaint could lead to prosecution, we may ask you and other witnesses to provide statements.
How do we investigate your complaint?
Often we send samples of food to a council-appointed public analyst who gives us an expert opinion on what is wrong with it. The food is very often destroyed during analysis so we can’t return it to you later. This process can take up to 2 months.
If you don’t have the original food, we’ll visit the premises and collect samples of similar food which will be sent to the Public Health Laboratory for microbiological analysis. This can take up to 2 weeks.
We’ll always inform you of the results of any testing carried out or samples taken.
We’ll consider what precautions have been taken to prevent your complaint. If the complaint arose through circumstances which couldn’t have been foreseen or prevented, the law prevents us from taking action.
How long does an investigation take?
The time taken to investigate a complaint will vary, ranging from a few days to many months. Cases that result in a formal caution or prosecution can take over a year to complete.
What are the likely outcomes of your complaint?
The complaint investigation will establish whether any offence has been committed. If there haven’t been any offences and there is no continuing risk to health, the investigation will be closed.
If we have sufficient evidence to prove that an offence has been committed, we’ll consider the following issues in deciding what action to take:
- the seriousness of the offence and the likely penalty
- whether anyone has been negligent
- the likelihood of the offender re-offending
- your views.
Our main aim is to make sure that the public is protected from the possibility of any similar complaints in the future. The action we take will be informal or formal.
Informal action
This usually involves a written or verbal warning. Informal action will be taken when:
- it appears to be an isolated incident, involving an otherwise satisfactory company
- the company can show that they’ve taken all reasonable precautions to minimise the risk of similar complaints (legally known as a defence of ‘due diligence’)
- we have insufficient evidence to prove a case in court.
Formal action
This involves formally cautioning the company or prosecuting it in court. In the case of prosecution you must be willing to give evidence of:
- where and when you bought the food
- when and how it was stored in your home
- how you discovered the fault.
In some cases, you may be asked to attend court as a witness but often evidence can be given in the form of a written and signed statement. It’ll be necessary to release your name to the company if we take legal proceedings.
You’ll be told about the outcome of the investigation and the investigating officer will explain to you the reasons behind the final decision in your case.
We’ll keep your identity strictly confidential. Sometimes a business may want to apologise, in these cases we’ll only reveal your identity if you give your consent.
Consideration will also be made to our enforcement policies.
Will this investigation help me to claim compensation?
Our food team won’t give you advice about your right to compensation. You’d need to take independent legal advice regarding this. The Citizens Advice Bureau can provide further information regarding your legal rights.
Do
- keep the original food
- keep perishable food under temperature control (i.e. refrigerated or frozen) especially if your complaint involves decomposition or off smells and tastes
- it’s important that where possible you give us receipts (not essential but helpful), packaging and labels so that we can make as full an investigation as possible
- we don’t routinely pass on your details to food businesses and would only do so with your permission
- keep the food in the wrapper (if possible) and put it in an air-tight container
- read the label for ‘Best Before’ and ‘Use By’ dates, and instructions for use. If you use food that is out of date, or in a different manner than that required by the manufacturers instructions, you can expect problems.
Don’t
- be tempted to handle or pull out any ‘foreign object’ found in the food, leave it in place.
- put the food in a place where further deterioration or contamination could take place (e.g. near other foods).
- throw away any of the food or packaging.
If the complaint doesn’t involve a food sample we’ll still investigate it.
