An allergic reaction, a food poisoning complaint or the council closing your kitchen: the first 24 hours

Written for owners of restaurants, cafes and coffee shops, pubs and bars, takeaways and delivery kitchens, food trucks and bakeries with seating, anywhere in the UK.

The short version

1. Keep the dish, the batch and the records.Chill leftovers and a batch sample, pull the batch from sale, and keep that day's records and recipe cards.
2. Tell your insurer the same day.Call on the first complaint, not when a claim letter arrives. Take the customer's details and admit nothing.
3. Keep insurer conditions up to date now.Clean extraction ducts as your policy requires, service fryer fire suppression and tell your insurer about changes. A missed duct clean can void fire cover.

A reaction at a table, a customer who says your food made them ill, or an environmental health officer closing the kitchen on a Saturday morning. Each is rare, and each needs the right steps in the first hours, because what you keep and what you say then decides much of what happens later.

A food complaint or suspected food poisoning

1. Record it.The customer, the dish, the time and the symptoms.
2. Keep the evidence.Keep leftovers and a sample of the batch chilled, pull the batch from sale, and check that day's records.
3. Tell the insurer.On the first complaint, not when a claim letter arrives. Do not admit liability.
4. Watch for recalls.Check FSA alerts every day and quarantine affected lot numbers.

The batch, the leftovers and that day's records are the evidence you will need later. An admission at the table cannot be taken back.

An allergic reaction

Preserve the dish, the recipe card, the ticket and the supplier's spec sheet. Call the insurer and a food law solicitor the same day, and stop using the ingredient. For example, say your curry house switches to a new almond blend that turns out to contain peanut, and a guest reacts. R v Zaman is the case a prosecutor will cite. Keep your allergen matrix current: dish by dish against the 14 allergens, with the recipe version, supplier product codes, sign-off, date and a change log. If you make and wrap sandwiches on site before customers order them, each one needs a label with the name of the food and a full ingredients list with the allergens emphasised within it. A sticker that only says 'contains: dairy' is not enough.

A hygiene emergency prohibition notice

A hygiene emergency prohibition notice, for example after mice are found in the kitchen, shuts the site at once. Book a pest contractor and a deep clean the same day, get a named, dated quote, and apply for a certificate that the risk has gone so you can reopen. At an assumed £4,000 a day of sales, for example, 3 closed days cost £12,000 before the pest contractor and deep clean.

Keep the insurer on side before anything happens

• Extraction ducts: insurers commonly require cleaning to BESA TR19 Grease every 3, 6 or 12 months depending on use, with a post-clean report. A missed clean can void fire cover. For example, if the last clean was 14 months before a duct fire against a 6-month condition, cover can be refused or reduced. File every post-clean report with the policy.
• Fryer suppression serviced, and changes disclosed, such as a late licence or events. You must make a fair presentation of the risk (Insurance Act 2015 s.3).
• Business interruption: check the indemnity period (12 months is often too short for a fire refit), the gross profit definition, and the disease, denial of access and utility extensions. Read the wording, not the policy title.
• An espresso machine boiler needs a written scheme of examination (Pressure Systems Safety Regulations 2000).

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