FOOD SAFETY POLICY

Food safety is our top priority, so we don’t take any risks with safety or hygiene. 

It's your safety we're talking about . . . that of your children, your family, your friends, your own customers, or whoever you're making the cake for; so we hope you will agree.

One thing we most definitely do not do is sell second-hand goods . . . which means that when you receive an item from us you know it has been stored and handled in a professional, hygienic environment at all times where we can control temperature, humidity, hygiene, how it is handled, who handles it and anything else which may affect the quality of the products we sell.

As a reputable business, we will always endeavour to fully meet our responsibilities under the Sale of Goods Act and Distance Selling Regulations, but there are grey areas within the guidelines where edible (or "perishable") products are involved.  In general terms, customers can exercise their rights under Distance Selling Regulations to return an item unless the item is exempt.  Not everyone agrees - which is OK - until the courts come up with a definitive judgement to cover this entire area so that we all know where we stand.  Until such a judgement is made, we respectfully point out our interpretation of the legal position and would ask that only customers who accept our position proceed to order from us.

For this reason we cannot accept returns of any edible product or some items designed to come into direct contact with food such as cake boards, even if they appear unopened.

The exception is, of course, if the item is faulty or incorrect in which case we will be happy to exchange it at our expense. On the rare occasion where this happens, we never re-sell the item . . . it is returned to the manufacturer for a credit, or is destroyed.

Whenever you buy an item from us you know that it has been in the possession of only the manufacturer and of us before being packed for delivery to you.  Our staff are all trained and even William (our student from Community Involvement - an organisation which finds training and employment for adults with learning difficulties) holds several City & Guilds Certificates in Food Preparation and Hygiene. 

We take this seriously, as we hope do you.

It's very easy for someone working from home to run an on-line sugarcraft supplies business and side-step many of the hygiene and safety issues involved.  If you're buying something like a DVD then it probably doesn't make any difference whether they work from home or not, but when you're buying sugarcraft and cake supplies, it becomes pretty important to know the people you are buying from don't take any chances with hygiene and food safety, and that the products are stored in a hygienic environment.

Over the past 25 years we have been blessed by meeting thousands of lovely customers but, as we all know, there are a handful of odd-bods out there who seem to enjoy hurting people or just generally causing chaos for the sheer hell of it.  Our Food Safety Policy completely eliminates any potential risk, no matter how tiny, posed by such people as you can rest assured the edible and food-contact products in your order have never been already sold to, or returned by, any other customer.

BEST BEFORE DATES

Under current UK and EU legislation, most edible products must display a BEST BEFORE END (BBE) date.  Certain foodstuffs such as meat products also must display a USE BY date.  Please note these two types of dates are not the same. This causes confusion so please let us explain . . .

Nothing we sell requires a USE BY date.  Most of the edible supplies we sell will display a BEST BEFORE END date, which is designed to help the customer determine the age of the product.  A BBE date is for guidance only.  There is nothing at all which can "go off" or become dangerous in any product which is nearing the BBE date. A BBE date is as much an aid for stock rotation as anything else and proof of this can be seen where identical products produced on the same day are given a 6-month BBE date for the UK market, but an 18-month BBE date if being exported.

Logically, the product is still perfectly safe to use in 18 months' time but enforcing a 6-month BBE date on British stockists forces us to renew our stock more often.  Slightly cynical, but that is genuinely the way it works.  We never sell products which exceed their BBE dates unless as part of a CLEARANCE SALE, in which case the BBE dates are clearly stated.

We never take risks with Food Safety so please trust us and be willing to apply some good ol' fashioned common sense when it comes to BBE dates . . . if you buy two pots of colouring and one has a BBE date 12 months away and the other 18 months away, is there really anything to complain about?  We honestly don't think so, and can only hope you agree.

COLOURINGS / ADDITIVES

Under current UK and EU legislation, there are only 3 classes of food additives: edible, non-toxic and toxic.

OK . . . let's get rid of toxic.  These are substances banned from use as additives for pretty obvious reasons, so they don't appear at all unless you risk buying some dodgy colourings from the Far East where you've no idea what's been added.

Edible applies to a recognised foodstuff only.  Under EU regulations "foodstuff" means something which the body absorbs - something with nutritional value.  This causes confusion - if a product is not a recognised food in its own right then it cannot be officially classed as "edible".  So, for example, an icing colouring paste based on sugar may be "edible" while a glitter colouring based on an oxide would be "non-toxic".

Non-Toxic applies to all additives which are safe to eat but not recognised as foods in their own right. This classification applies to a large proportion of icing colourings and additives for no other reason than that our bodies do not absorb them - they simply pass through.  They are controlled by UK and EU regulations and are completely safe.  Manufacturers may keep themselves right by stating "for decorative use only" (or some similar phrase) but they are designed as food additives and are 100% safe to use.

Quick example:  sweetcorn is obviously "edible" but under EU classification rules the husk of a sweetcorn kernel is not digestable, so not absorbed by our bodies, so not a "foodstuff".  As it's not a foodstuff it cannot be classed as edible.  In effect the husk is "non toxic" although we'd all think the world had gone mad if we saw that printed on a tin of Green Giant. Common sense prevails - at least for sweetcorn!

The over-riding point is that we are never going to stock anything unless it has been proved 100% safe, tried and tested and already well known within the sugarcraft world.

By ordering from cake-stuff.com you are showing you will agree with this policy.  This policy does not affect your statutory rights and the full Terms & Conditions can be read by clicking on the TERMS link at the top of this page.

Thanks!