What Is Due Diligence in Food Safety?

Due diligence is a statutory defence available under the Food Safety Act 1990. If you are accused of a food safety offence, you can defend yourself by proving that you took all reasonable precautions and exercised all due diligence to avoid committing the offence. This is not an automatic protection — you must actively demonstrate it through evidence. In practice, due diligence means having robust systems in place and being able to prove they are working. This includes: a documented food safety management system (SFBB or HACCP) that is up to date and actively used, temperature monitoring records showing food is stored and cooked at safe temperatures, staff training records showing all food handlers are appropriately trained, supplier checks and records showing you source food from reputable suppliers, allergen management records, cleaning schedules and records, and pest control arrangements. The key word is "reasonable" — you are not expected to prevent every possible incident, but you are expected to have taken reasonable steps to prevent foreseeable ones. If a customer finds a foreign object in their food, due diligence would require you to show you have systems to prevent contamination (checking ingredients, maintaining equipment, training staff) even if one incident still occurred. Without documented evidence, you cannot prove due diligence. This is why record-keeping is so important — not just for EHO inspections, but for your legal protection.