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Food complaints

Concerns about food and / or a food business

All food businesses must be maintained in a clean condition and provide safe food.

If you are not satisfied with the food that you have been served / sold or the premises is unhygienic, and you feel that there may be a food hygiene problem at the food business you should complain to the Manager of the business in the first instance.

If you are not satisfied with the response from the Manager, you should contact us to make a complaint about the business because we may be able to investigate.

We will not divulge your details to the business unless you tell us that we can, and we will investigate your complaint. Appropriate action will be taken in relation to any food hygiene related problems that we find at the business and we will let you know the outcome.

If you find an object in your food, or have suspicions that the food may be contaminated, you should take the food away with you, keep it refrigerated or frozen and then contact us. We will then arrange for the item to be collected or dropped at the appropriate council office. We will accept the food, investigate the complaint and take any action that is necessary against the food business.

The types of complaints we can investigate are:

  • a foreign object found in your food
  • dirty premises
  • sightings of pest activity
  • poor hand hygiene
  • poor food handling
  • food with visible signs of mould or decay
  • food sold past its use-by-date is dealt with by Trading Standards. You can make a complaint to Trading Standards via the Citizens Advice Consumer Service on: 0808 2231133
  • unavailable or incorrect allergen information is dealt with by Trading Standards. You can make a complaint to Trading Standards via the Citizens Advice Consumer Service on: 0808 2231133
  • suspected food poisoning

We cannot help where:

  • There is no public health risk
  • a complaint is made anonymously
  • there is insufficient evidence to support an offence
  • you no longer have the item you are complaining about (other than restaurant or takeaway meals)
  • the business has already been asked to take action
  • there is undue delay in reporting the problem
  • you are seeking a refund, replacement or other compensation
  • the complaint is about customer service
Make a complaint about a food business

Last updated 13 October 2023