Food Standards Agency
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5,000 businesses to benefit from food safety grants

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has awarded grants to help more than 5,000 caterers and food retailers improve food safety. This is the fourth year the FSA has given these grants as part of its ongoing commitment to helping food businesses comply with EU hygiene regulations.

Local authorities and a range of other organisations will administer the grants, to support food businesses in implementing Safer food, better business (SFBB) – an innovative and practical approach to helping small businesses put in place systems to manage food safety risks.

This year grants were awarded to projects that address one or more of our three main priorities:

  • preparation for the 2012 Olympics
  • moving to a new six-tier Scores on the Doors scheme
  • sustainability of SFBB implementation

Sarah Appleby, Head of Food Safety: Implementation and Delivery Division at the FSA, said: 'This fourth group of awards follows the success of the previous SFBB grants and I'm really pleased that we're able to continue supporting local authorities to improve food safety standards through the SFBB programme. The Agency is committed to making sure that eating out is as safe as possible for consumers and to raise the standards in catering establishments both now and for the future.'

Local authorities were invited to submit applications for the grants in April. The applications were appraised by internal and external appraisal panels. As in previous years, the external panel had representatives from local authorities, LACORS (Local Authorities Coordinators of Regulatory Services), the British Hospitality Association and an academic from Birmingham University.

In total, the Agency received 27 applications for grants, of which 18 were successful, involving 70 local authorities and a range of other organisations.

SFBB grant scheme awards

The following local authorities and organisations have been awarded grants in the latest wave of funding:

Lead local authority/organisationPartner local authorities
Association of London Environmental Health Managers Newham, Tower Hamlets, Waltham Forest, Hackney, Greenwich, Kensington and Chelsea, Brent, Merton, City of London, Southwark, Havering, Bromley, Haringey, Enfield
Chichester Arun
Doncaster Sheffield City, Barnsley, Rotherham
Food Northwest Allerdale, Burnley, Carlisle, Copeland, Eden, Hambleton, Lancaster, Preston, South Lakeland, South Ribble, Wakefield, West Lancashire
Business Regulation Solutions Ltd (a local authority controlled company) Bury, Manchester, Wigan, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport, Bolton, Trafford, Warrington, Tameside, Blackburn with Darwen
Harrogate Craven
Leeds  
Lichfield  
Mendip  
Newark and Sherwood  
North Norfolk Broadland, Norwich, Breckland, Kings Lynn and West Norfolk
Rushcliffe  
South Cambridgeshire Fenland, Huntingdonshire, Peterborough, East Cambridgeshire, Cambridge City Council
South Somerset  
Southend  
Tonbridge and Malling Dartford, Sevenoaks, Tunbridge Wells
Wigan  
Windsor and Maidenhead  

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