Manufacturing

As a small food producer, you’ve built a product people want to buy. The next stage of your growth means proving to your trade customers that it’s safe and compliant. You’ve decided SALSA is your next step. Perhaps a buyer has asked for it, or you can see the doors it would open for your business. So, you download the standard and find pages of requirements, a choice of membership packages and an audit at the end, with no obvious place to start. This guide takes you through

Your food or drink product can be safe to eat but still get pulled from the shelves because of what’s printed on the pack. Labelling errors are the biggest single cause of food recalls in the UK. The Food Standards Agency (FSA) recorded 141 product recalls in 2025, and around a quarter of them came down to allergen labelling mistakes. Very few involved a contaminated batch. In most cases, the label either failed to declare an allergen, carried an out-of-date ingredients list

What does it take to keep a food business safe and compliant? That’s what Katie Watkins-Young, founder of Beacon Compliance, explores in a recent episode of the What’s Your Stori? podcast.

You’ve perfected your artisan chutney, your small-batch sourdough or your hand-made sausages. A few local delis and retailers want to stock them. Then, one of your buyers asks, ‘are you SALSA approved?’. Many small food and drink producers hear that acronym for the first time at this point and wonder what it means. SALSA isn’t a legal requirement, but for many buyers, it works like one. This blog explains what SALSA certification is, whether you need it, what an audit cov

This blog explains the UK laws that govern food safety and hygiene, what inspectors check and the practical steps you can take to keep your business compliant.

This blog explains what BRCGS certification is, why it’s important and how it can benefit your manufacturing business.

This blog explains the seven principles of HACCP, the legal position in the UK and where HACCP plans go wrong most often in food production environments.

Calibration of equipment plays an important role in food safety, legality and quality. Proactive and routine calibration of key measuring devices and equipment ensures that food is processed accurately and consistently in addition to controlling physical, chemical or microbiological hazards in food production and manufacturing. When on site with their bakery clients, the team at Beacon Compliance often see the following types of equipment that require calibration; ovens , sca

As we know, the current climate is not just “pinching” but “squeezing” every penny out of businesses whether its raw materials, packaging, gas and electric and fuel along with the increased expectations on wages. Here we have identified the top four areas we commonly see as consultants where savings can be made without compromising on food safety compliance; Laboratory testing – we are often amazed to see how much technical teams are spending on material, product and environm

‘You’re only as good as your internal auditing’ is our motto here at Beacon Compliance. Many people don’t dig deep enough and rest on their laurels when it comes to internal auditing, saying ‘we passed our audit last year, so we will this year’.

Lets hope that you never receive that phone call…you know…the one that means whatever you were about to do, forget it – we’ve got a product recall on our hands! In this article, Beacon Compliance food safety experts are taking the position that as the reader, you know all about product recall, that it should be tested frequently, and that yes, it is different to a traceability. Have you thought or event considered these factors when it comes to product recall? Let’s hope that

Wouldn’t we all love more storage! Picture this…a beautiful array of storage containers, colour coded, size and alphabetically ordered, separate temperature-controlled storage solutions for raw materials, work in progress and finished products, raw foods, ready to eat foods etc.…do your food storage areas look like this? If not, perhaps this is how you should be thinking! The way we store food at the various steps of baking can significantly affect the safety and quality of

I took my two daughters today to an arts and crafts workshop in a local village near me, Pontarddulais. The workshop is run by a friend of mine, Julie Wignall-Hovestadt. Creative Renaissance Wales (www.creativerenaissance.co.uk), became active in January 2019 months ago and makes very good use of her laser cutting machine for all material variants distributing gifts, business marketing materials, favours, frames, anything you can think of...she should be able to make it!!

Perception is that the 'Health Inspector', 'Environmental Health Officer', 'Food Law Enforcement Officer', 'Food Safety Professional' wants to visit your food business and make your life a misery, make you wish that we had never walked in, make you want the hole in the ground to swallow you up, we want your business to fail and for you to be shamed across social media and the press - for you to be shut down....that's true isn't it! We love a grimey grubby unsafe kitchen!....