Selling homemade food on Instagram and facebook

[Radiantmoon]

My friends produce food at home in Europe- clarified organic butter, cheese, 100% organic vegetables which I want to sell in UK through Instagram and Facebook; we are still too small.
I know homemade food officially needs to be made in authorized by council property, but it is made in European country in UK, not UK.
Instagram shop account is not attached not to my address, not to my name. So I don't see how I can possibly get in trouble for it selling on such small scale on instagram
But I don't know..
Does anyone has an experience selling food on Insta, facebook and ebay?
Thank you

 

[Scalloway]

Advice to businesses selling food online from the Food Standards Agency

https://www.food.gov.uk/sites/defau...dvice-to-businesses-selling-food-online_0.pdf

 

[ecommerce84]

Do you plan on buying stock in and then reselling it from your location, or are you planning on dropshipping direct to the customer from the manufacturer?

 

[Radiantmoon]

Do you plan on buying stock in and then reselling it from your location, or are you planning on dropshipping direct to the customer from the manufacturer?

Thank you for replies
We are planning on buying and then reselling from our location

 

[busowner987]

Ewww just eww. I know of somebody local that cooks from home and sells online and at food markets. If you took a peep through the window and saw the mould growing on everything left piled high in the kitchen I'm sure you would run a mile from the food stall.

Like wise professional kitchens namely chinese are normally 1 star and filthy.

Do quick check and post the results of your local chinese.

https://ratings.food.gov.uk/search

Mine was a 1*

 

[alan1302]

Do quick check and post the results of your local chinese.

https://ratings.food.gov.uk/search

Mine was a 1*

Mine is a 5*

 

[Darren_Ssc]

Mine was a 1*

The one next door to my office is a 2 but I have to admire the fact he has the sticker on the front door.

 

[alan1302]

The one next door to my office is a 2 but I have to admire the fact he has the sticker on the front door.

At least they are honest about it!

 

[busowner987]

Lol! a 5* Chinese I don't believe it . Banchinese.co.uk is available btw.

They should have to advertise the food hygene rating on the door and on the website as well as on the large food ordering sites/apps

They just don't bother putting it in the window.

We used to go to china town often but if the label was not in the window we would not go in. Now we wont go again for more reasons than what is obvious.

 

[alan1302]

Now we wont go again for more reasons than what is obvious.

What reasons?

 

[ecommerce84]

Our local chinese is a 5 also. Obtaining a 5 is relatively straightforward for most.

@Radiantmoon as you’ll be storing stock you do need to register as a food business with the Environmental Health department of your local district level council.

You'll likely need to produce a food management plan that shows:
- how you ensure you monitor dates on products
- how you ensure they are kept at the correct temperatures whilst stored. Cheese and butter will require fridges and you’ll need to monitor the temperatures daily.
- how you ensure they are kept at the right temperatures during delivery. For local delivery this can be as simple as a cool box. Postal delivery will require thought.
- the allergens of all of your products
- how you deal with pest control
- etc

have a look at a the ‘Safer Food Better Business’ produced by the Food Standards Agency. Print it out, fill it out (some sections won’t be applicable) and action any bits that you need to do to be compliant.

Its free to register with Environmental Health, they actually want to help you and the processes you’ll require are very straightforward so it’s not worth the risk to not register and comply.

On another note, I’d give thought to trading through a Limited company and relevant insurance is a must.