Vacuum packing is a process that a number of food businesses use to extend the shelf life of foods or simply to keep it neatly packed for their own storage or sale to their customers.
Air is removed from around the food and its return is prevented by giving the packing bags an air tight seal. The lack of air limits the growth of micro-organisms that cause food spoilage and helps to extend the shelf life of the food.
Unfortunately there can be problems with by bacteria like Clostridium botulinum that don’t need air to grow and can cause serious illness and even death.
A number of businesses that use vacuum packing don’t fully understand the food safety precautions that have to be taken to make sure the food is packaged safely or how long they can keep vacuum packed foods for.
Improper use of vacuum packing was implicated in Professor Pennington’s report (external link) following the enquiry into the E. coli 0157 outbreak in Wales in 2005 when Mason Jones, a 5 year old boy, died. William Tudor, the butcher, was sent to prison.
We have produced guidance for businesses on the hygiene practices (pdf 50kb) they need to follow. The Food Standards Agency has also produced guidance on the extending the shelf life of food (pdf 231kb) with vacuum packing and a fact sheet (pdf 62kb). Please read this guidance to help you understand the safe way to use vacuum packing.
If you have a food business in Wealden and haven’t already been contacted by us please print this vacuum packing questionnaire (pdf 16kb) complete it and post it to us.