How to make a complaint about food - advice about the most common complaints we receive, the action you should take and who you should contact depending on the type of complaint.
Foreign Objects in Food
Foreign objects in food are a common complaint, but not all pose a health risk. The pages in this section can help you decide what best to do about:
Tinned foods - Field Insects, wasps and fruit flies, mould
Dried Foods - Insects
Bakery Goods - Bakery char, carbonised grease
Chocolate/Confectionery - Bloom, crystals
Fruit and Vegetables - Stones, soil and slugs, greenfly, mould
Meat - Skin, bone
Fish - Glowing fish, codworm, glass-like crystals
This advice can also be downloaded as a leaflet in PDF format below.
Please read the advice in this section before contacting Environmental Health or Trading Standards. In some circumstances it is more appropriate to contact the retailer, or deal with the problem yourself.
For more advice about the types of complaint that Environmental Health and Trading Standards can deal with, see Who should I complain to?.
