The Food Standards Agency has updated the Food Law Code of Practice (England).
That might sound like a dry technical document, but it has a very real impact on your restaurant, café, takeaway, school, care home or multi site group. The Code tells inspectors how to plan visits, what to look at, and how to score you.
In other words, it is the rulebook for inspections.
This blog explains, in plain English:
What has changed in principle
What the Code says about different types of inspectors
What it says about Primary Authority
Why receiving Primary Authority assured advice from Food Safety Guru now gives you an even clearer advantage
1. What is the Food Law Code of Practice?
The Food Law Code of Practice is written by the Food Standards Agency and issued by the Secretary of State. It is aimed at local authorities and other “competent authorities” that enforce food law.
It tells them:
How to organise food hygiene and standards work
How to rate businesses
How often to inspect
How to approach sampling, complaints and enforcement
Authorities have to have regard to the Code. If they do not, their decisions could be challenged. So, even though you may never read it as a business owner, it strongly shapes your inspection experience.
2. Inspections are clearly risk based
One of the main themes in the updated Code is that official controls must be:
Risk based
Proportionate
Consistent
That is not new, but it is emphasised again and again.
For you, this means that how often you are inspected, and what happens when someone is on site, depends heavily on the level of risk the authority sees in your operation. That risk picture is built from:
The type of food you handle
The processes you use
Your past history
Most importantly, how well you control and document those risks
So your:
HACCP or food safety management system
Daily checks and logs
Corrective action records
Training evidence
…all carry real weight. If they are organised, complete and actually used, you are in a much stronger position than a business that just “gets by”.
This is exactly how Food Safety Guru is designed: to make risk control and record keeping part of the day to day, not something you only think about the day before an inspection.
3. You may see different types of inspectors
The Code makes it clear that its requirements apply to all authorised officers, whether they are:
Permanent staff
Contract officers
Temporary staff working on behalf of a local authority
The Code also allows “competent authorities” to delegate certain official controls to other bodies or people, as long as they meet the legal requirements.
In practice, that means your inspection might be carried out by:
A local EHO you have known for years, or
A contract or temporary officer brought in to support the council’s workload
They all have to follow the same Code, but they may have different styles, backgrounds and levels of familiarity with your type of business.
When inspectors vary, having a clear, standardised, well explained system becomes even more important. It saves time, removes ambiguity and makes it easier for any officer to understand how you run things.
4. What the Code says about Primary Authority
This is where things get very relevant for Food Safety Guru clients.
The Code specifically supports Primary Authority and how inspectors should take it into account.
In simple terms:
If a business receives Primary Authority advice, that Primary Authority can give local inspectors an inspection plan
That plan sets out how the business manages food safety across its sites, and how officers should take that into account
The Code tells officers that where there is a Primary Authority inspection plan, they should focus on how well the agreed system is being followed on site, rather than trying to unpick and redesign the central corporate system
When inspectors score “confidence in management”, Primary Authority appears again:
In the top scoring band, having access to technical advice from a Primary Authority is listed as positive evidence
Primary Authority partnerships are mentioned as part of the wider picture when officers judge how strong your food safety management and assurance is
So Primary Authority is not just a buzzword. The Code is telling inspectors:
If this business is authorised to offer Primary Authority advice and an agreed system, you should take that into account and use it to inform how you rate them.
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5. Why Food Safety Guru clients are better off than before
Now here is the good news.
Food Safety Guru is Primary Authority assured.
That means the way we have built:
HACCP
Daily checks and tasks
Record keeping
Corrective action structure
…has already been looked at with a Primary Authority and agreed as a suitable approach.
So when the updated Code tells inspectors to consider Primary Authority, you are not starting from zero. You are already receiving a Primary Partnership Assured advice.
That gives you several advantages:
You are working with a nationally recognised framework, not a random set of templates
The central logic of your system has already been through an extra level of scrutiny
Inspectors are steered by the Code to look at how well you follow that system on site, rather than trying to write a new one for you during the visit
When they score confidence in management, the fact that you have Primary Authority backing and access to technical advice is part of the positive evidence
In other words:
We have done a lot of the hard thinking for you already.
6. What you should do now
If you already have a strong system in place, your focus can be on good everyday use, not on rewriting paperwork.
Here are some practical next steps:
Make sure everyone uses your system properly
Complete the checks
Record temperatures and other monitoring
Log and sign off corrective actions
Check your records are easy to show
If an inspector asks, you should be able to quickly bring up the relevant checks, logs and actions on screen
Brief managers about Primary Authority
Let them know you have Primary Authority assured advice from Food Safety Guru
Encourage them to mention this at the start of a visit and be ready to show how the system is used onsite
Ask for support if you are unsure
If you are not sure whether you are using all the features that help with inspection, ask us and we can walk you through it
7. Final thought
The updated Food Law Code of Practice does not completely change how inspections work, but it does reinforce two big ideas:
Inspections must be risk based and evidence led
Primary Authority and assured systems should be taken into account when judging a business
As a Food Safety Guru client, you are not starting from scratch. You are already receiving Primary Authority assured advice and your system is built to show inspectors the right things, in the right way.
Your job is to use it consistently.
Our job is to keep it aligned with the rules and support you when you need help.
If you would like a review of how a Food Safety Guru setup can help line you up with the new Code, get in touch and we will be happy to talk it through.
Frequently Asked Questions
The Food Law Code of Practice 2025 is the rulebook that local councils and port health authorities in England must follow when they enforce food law. It sets out how inspections, ratings and enforcement should be carried out and is issued by the Food Standards Agency and the Secretary of State. Food Standards Agency
The updated Code puts clear emphasis on risk based, proportionate and consistent inspections. In practice this means your HACCP, daily checks, corrective actions and training evidence all matter more, because they are used to decide how often you are inspected and how much confidence inspectors have in your management. Food Standards Agency
Where a business has a Primary Authority, that Primary Authority can provide an inspection plan which local inspectors are expected to take into account. The Code tells officers to focus on how well the agreed system is implemented on site, and lists access to technical advice from a Primary Authority as positive evidence for strong “confidence in management” scores.
Food Safety Guru’s system is Primary Authority assured. That means the structure of your food safety management has already been reviewed with Primary Authority in line with the Code. Inspectors are pointed towards using Primary Authority information when they score your business, so you benefit from a recognised, standardised system and only need to show that you follow it properly on site.
