Hi As a food vendor on North Cross Road market, I would just like to explain the measures we put in place to ensure the food is safe. All food vendors should be registered with the Food Safety Team - and are then subject to inspection of both their kitchen facilities and their stall conditions and practices. They should also have a level 2 food hygiene certificate which ensures that they are aware of all the precautions that need to be taken to ensure that food is safe. We are required to fill out records of cooking, cooling and reheating times, core temperatures and refrigeration and freezer temperatures. Food kept at the stall therefore needs to be kept either in a fridge or a coolbox, with a temperature below 8 degrees. Small amounts of cold food should be put on display at any one time, and topped up with food from the coolbox/fridge. Hot food needs to be kept at a minimum temperature of 68 degrees - so hot food vendors should have a food thermometer to hand. The last thing we would want to do is put our customers at risk of food poisoning, so we take extreme in care in adhering to the rules in keeping food out of the 'danger zone'. Obviously, we can't speak for other traders, but I did just want to reassure our customers that our food is perfectly safe! Mother's Dumplings
