What to do if your business is under investigation for food safety or hygiene offences

Author: Neena Jhawer, Senior Consultant Solicitor at Setfords | Last updated: 9th September 2026 | Read time: 6 minutes

If Environmental Health Officers are investigating your food business, acting quickly and involving a food safety solicitor early can be the difference between a written warning and a criminal prosecution. Here’s what typically happens, what your rights are, and when to get specialist legal advice.

Key takeaways

• Environmental Health Officers can inspect your premises, seize food, and issue improvement or prohibition notices without warning.
• Cooperating with an investigation doesn’t mean accepting every assumption the investigator makes; you can and should challenge the evidence.
• A Hygiene Emergency Prohibition Notice can force an immediate closure, but reopening quickly is possible once the issues are fixed.
• In the most serious cases, an investigation can extend to personal liability for directors, managers, or the business owner.
• Early advice from a food safety solicitor can materially change how a case is investigated, charged, and sentenced.

What happens when your food business is investigated?

A food-safety investigation usually starts with a visit from an Environmental Health Officer, sometimes routine and sometimes triggered by a complaint, an illness, or an accident. Officers can inspect your premises, question staff, and take samples for testing.

Where they find genuine concerns, the consequences can escalate quickly. These can vary from an informal warning through to closure and, in serious cases, prosecution. However, how you and your team respond in the first few days can shape the outcome.

What powers do Environmental Health Officers have?

Environmental Health Officers have wide powers under the Food Safety and Hygiene (England) Regulations 2013 to ensure food businesses comply with the law. They can:

• Inspect any part of your food production, storage, or retail process
• Enter your premises, seize food, and take samples for testing
• Issue improvement notices, warnings, or prohibition notices where they find breaches

In the most serious cases, a local authority can pursue criminal prosecution. Understanding the scope of the powers being used against you helps you prepare properly.

Staying calm and cooperating, without accepting every assumption

Being investigated is stressful, but staying calm and professional with the officers involved helps rather than hinders your position. Trying to obstruct or resist an investigation can lead to further charges.

Cooperation doesn’t mean accepting the investigator’s interpretation of events without question. Ask for specifics of the alleged breaches, request the evidence behind any serious claim, and don’t assume an early theory of what happened is the final word.

What enforcement action can follow?

If officers find breaches, the consequences can range from a warning to closure. Common outcomes include:

• Improvement Notices. A warning that action is needed to fix a specific issue, with a set timeline.
• Hygiene Emergency Prohibition Notices (HEPN). A forced closure, usually because of a serious health risk. This can lead to a Hygiene Emergency Prohibition Order (HEPO), which can be difficult to reverse without the right approach.

In extreme cases, an investigation can lead to criminal charges, significant fines, and lasting reputational damage.

Dealing with a forced closure

If your business is closed following a hygiene violation, addressing the issue promptly and thoroughly is critical. If this happens to you:

• Preserve your evidence. Keep all records showing the policies, procedures, and practices you had in place before the closure.
• Document your corrective actions. If officers issue a notice, you’ll need to show the steps you’ve taken to fix the issues, from cleaning procedures to staff retraining.
• Work closely with the enforcement officer. Be proactive about addressing the health risks identified. A re-inspection is usually needed before a closure can be lifted, so showing genuine improvement matters.

If the investigation leads to criminal prosecution

If your case moves towards prosecution, protecting your position becomes even more important. Getting legal advice early lets a solicitor guide you through the investigation and any court proceedings, and it’s worth checking your business insurance policy to see whether it covers legal costs or the financial impact of a closure.

The impact of a prosecution can extend well beyond the immediate penalty. Even where a case concludes in your favour, public knowledge of the investigation can affect customer trust, and your insurance premiums may rise if fines or penalties follow.

What can make an investigation harder for your business

• Waiting to get advice. The longer an investigation runs before a solicitor is involved, the fewer opportunities there are to shape its direction.
• Incomplete records. Gaps in training logs, temperature checks, or supplier records make it harder to demonstrate the systems you had in place.
• Accepting assumptions at face value. Early theories about cause and responsibility aren’t always right, and they can shape the rest of the investigation if left unchallenged.

What can help your case

• Getting advice early. A food safety solicitor can identify weaknesses in the case against you before it’s too late to act on them.
• Keeping thorough records. Training, cleaning, and temperature logs can be the difference between a disputed claim and a clear defence.
• Demonstrating genuine improvement. Evidence that you’ve fixed the identified issues carries real weight with investigators and, if it comes to it, the Court.

When to speak to a solicitor

You don’t need to wait until charges are filed to get advice. A food safety solicitor who’s handled these investigations before can often see where a case is heading long before you can. It’s worth speaking to us if:

• Environmental Health has contacted you or visited your premises
• You’ve received an Improvement Notice or Hygiene Emergency Prohibition Notice
• Officers are linking a customer illness to your business
• You’re facing multiple alleged breaches or the prospect of prosecution
• You want to understand your position before you’re interviewed

FAQs

What is the main defence under food safety law?

The main defence under the Food Safety and Hygiene (England) Regulations 2013 is “due diligence”: showing you took all reasonable precautions and exercised all due diligence to avoid the offence. A food safety solicitor can help you gather the evidence to support this, such as training records, temperature logs, and supplier checks.

How long can an enforcement officer seize food for?

There’s no single fixed period. Officers can seize and detain food they suspect fails food-safety requirements for as long as needed to have it examined or tested, and they must give you a receipt for it. If you disagree with a seizure, a solicitor can help you challenge it.

Can I be personally liable as a director or manager?

Yes, in some circumstances. Where an offence is linked to the consent, connivance, or neglect of a director or manager, they can be prosecuted personally alongside the business. Getting advice early helps clarify where responsibility genuinely sits.

What’s the difference between an Improvement Notice and a Hygiene Emergency Prohibition Notice?

An Improvement Notice sets out a problem and a timeline to fix it, while your business stays open. A Hygiene Emergency Prohibition Notice forces an immediate closure because of a serious health risk, and reopening usually requires a further inspection.

Will my business have to close permanently?

Not necessarily. Many businesses reopen once they’ve demonstrated the issues have been fixed and passed a further inspection. How quickly that happens usually depends on how thoroughly you address the concerns raised and how well you can evidence it.

About the author

Neena Jhawer is a Senior Consultant Solicitor at Setfords and a food safety and hygiene expert. She regularly represents food businesses, directors, and managers facing serious regulatory and criminal investigations.

This article is general information about food safety and hygiene investigations in England and Wales and is not legal advice. The law and timescales can change, and every situation is different, so please speak to a qualified food safety solicitor about your circumstances.