Vale of White Horse District Council
Abbey House, Abbey Close,
Abingdon, OX14 3JE
Email: comments@whitehorsedc.gov.uk
Telephone: 01235 520202

Vale of White Horse District Council

How to report a food safety problem, including food poisoning

You can report a food safety problem, or instance of food poisoning, to us by emailing, phoning or writing to the Food and Safety Team - see the contact details on the right.

To help us investigate the complaint we need as much detail as possible, including:

• Your name, address, telephone number, e-mail address, and any other relevant contact information
• The name and address of the business causing your concern
• Details of the matter which you wish to report.

What the Council can and cannot investigate

Complaints regarding food matters fall generally into two categories:    

• Complaints about food premises
• Complaints about food purchases.      

Complaints about food premises will always be investigated by the Council provided the complaint is not frivolous.

We will keep the complainant’s name and address as confidential as possible, but under certain legal circumstances we may be obliged to divulge these details. Anonymous complaints may or may not be investigated, depending on the perceived level of risk and whether the complaint is regarded as frivolous or otherwise inappropriate.

Complaints about food purchased in the Vale where something may be wrong with the product will be investigated, and the matter taken up with the seller and/or manufacturer. This includes food that is unfit, mouldy or contains foreign matter.

Food sold beyond its “use by” date may result in proceedings being taken, but no action will be taken if food is sold beyond a “best before” date unless it also shows signs of being unfit. This is because best before dates are only usually given to lower risk food products and are advisory.

Action may not necessarily be taken where the person who bought the food complained to a business and only received a small item or sum of money in compensation. Any compensation is a matter entirely between the complainant and the shop in question.

The Food and Safety Team will also collect any defective food which was bought in food premises anywhere in the UK, if the person who bought it lives in the Vale and the food is at their home. In these circumstances the Team will forward the food onto the Council in whose area the food was bought for it to be investigated locally.

Complaints about food standards rather than safety, for example food that is mis-described, are not dealt with by this council but by Oxfordshire Trading Standards, who can be contacted by calling 01865 815000.

For details about how a complaint will be dealt with see How the Council enforces food and safety legislation.