1. Declare what you are cooking and/or sampling on the Compulsory Health & Safety Declaration Form.  Following submission of this form you will be sent further information depending on whether you are sampling low, medium or high risk foods, which will include any additional information required e.g. HACCP, Temperature Control Measures, Hand Wash Facilities etc.
2. Provide allergen information specific to the food/drink being sampled.  This information must also be displayed / available on the stand.

In compliance with current legislation both the sale and supply of alcohol must be licensed under The Licensing Act (2003), therefore sampling is also a licensable activity.

Any stands who wish to supply alcohol (except that provided by the official caterers) whether for on-site or off-site consumption, must adhere to the sampling sizes and supply details of a Personal Licence.

Under the terms of the Licensing Act 2003, the venue stipulates that all stand holders sampling alcohol must be covered by a Personal Licence Holder and notify the Organisers by completing the Alcohol section on the Health & Safety declaration. Please take note of the restrictions on the form.

For more information on alcohol sampling & serving legislation please visit:

www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/17/contents

Do you produce or sell alcohol wholesale?

If you sell alcohol to another business, you may need to apply to register for Alcohol Wholesaler Registration Scheme (AWRS).

Do you buy alcohol to sell to others?

From 1 April 2017, if you buy alcohol from UK suppliers to sell to others, you must check that your supplier has been approved under the Alcohol Wholesaler Registration Scheme (AWRS). Ask your supplier to tell you their AWRS Unique Reference Number (URN); they will also show the URN on their invoices.

You will need to keep records to prove you have checked that your supplier is approved, so you don’t inadvertently become involved in selling duty unpaid alcohol.

You can find more information at:

www.gov.uk/guidance/the-alcohol-wholesaler-registration-scheme-awrs

In addition to the above, the following conditions apply:

• All terms of the Licensing Act 2003 must be adhered to.
• Alcohol must not be served to anyone who is under the age of 18, or who appears to be under the age of 18 (unless proof of age is shown).
• Alcohol must not be served to anyone who appears to be under the influence of alcohol.
• Any stand offering food / and or drink is by law categorised as a food premises and is therefore subject to legislation under the Food Safety Act 1990. The legal penalties for breaches of the Licensing Act are severe. If any exhibitor fails to comply with these conditions their activities will be curtailed and, depending on the severity of the breach, they may also be banned from site.

EXHIBITORS ARE NOT PERMITTED TO SERVE ALCOHOL AS HOSPITALTY (i.e., full sized drinks) UNLESS IT IS PURCHASED FROM THE VENUE’S CATERING PROVIDER. You must seek permission from ExCeL London Hospitality to do so.

If you wish to offer your own product as hospitality, please contact ExCeL London Hospitality to discuss this further on +44 (0)20 7069 4100.

Exhibitors are not permitted to sell products from the stand.
 

Food Information Regulations state that all food service businesses must to be able to supply details of the product contents that contain any of the 14 recognised allergens within the ranges they serve.  Any stand offering food and/or drink is by law categorised as a food premises and must therefore comply with these regulations.  Accurate and verifiable food allergen information must be readily available (this can be in the form of original packaging) and signage should be in place on the stand to direct customers on how to obtain the information.
 

Click here for an Allergen Information Template

Click here for the example sign

Click here for the Official Government Website on Allergen Guidance for Food Businesses

If you are cooking on your stand, please declare this on the Compulsory Health & Safety Declaration Form.

You will be required to comply with Food Safety & Hygiene Regulations.  Details must be provided as part of your Exhibiting Company Risk Assessment, including methods of storage, washing facilities, stand layout and type of appliance to be used in the cooking and sent to the Organisers no later than Friday 31st January 2025.

Appliances that run on Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) are NOT permitted. Main’s gas or electricity only may be used. Gas-fired cooking and heating appliances must be installed by Gas Safe registered fitters.

Appropriate signage must be displayed around equipment which could pose a hazard. If the appliance is of very high risk, i.e., food slicer, please consider also using a guard.

All electrical appliances should be routinely PAT tested (portable appliance testing) to ensure the safety of exhibitors and visitors.

NB: Disposal of oil - please DO NOT dispose of your oil into the venue’s drainage system either on the stand or in any of the washrooms. Used oil should be transferred to a suitable container and disposed of in the bin provided in the communal wash up areas. The location of the wash up areas will be provided 4 weeks out from the show.

Each stand or kitchen where open food is handled, prepared or dispensed must hold a suitable and sufficient First Aid Kit including blue plasters (complying with the Health and Safety-First Aid Regulations).

All food businesses must comply with current (UK & EU) Food Safety Legislation, details of which can be found using the following link: www.food.gov.uk/enforcement/regulation.  

All exhibitors carrying out food operations should be registered as food businesses with their local authority (UK). This should be completed 28 days before ‘food operations’ take place.

Food operations include as least one of the following activities:

• Cooking food
• Storing or handling food
• Preparing food
• Distributing food
• Supplying food for sampling

Any exhibitor, who is cooking on the stand and / or offering their products as samples to visitors, must make sure they comply with all current Food Hygiene Regulations.

Montgomery Events employs the services of an independent Environmental Health Officer to carry out a food hygiene audit during the 3-day open period.

In addition to this, officers from the Local Authority may be onsite at any time during our tenancy, carrying out inspections. They have the authority to close stands, or to ask you to cease sampling, if they are not satisfied that standards are being met.

Any company bringing food into the venue and offering it as samples to visitors should undertake a Food Risk Assessment (HACCP- Hazard Analysis & Critical Control Point).  Please follow the link for a HACCP How To, Example & Template or for the HACCP template only please click here.

HACCPS should be completed with your overall Risk Assessment and the main steps include:

• Identifying hazards
• Defining control measures
• Establishing if they are critical
• Setting targets and limits for critical control points
• Monitoring if necessary

For more information on HACCPS, please visit https://www.food.gov.uk/business-industry/food-hygiene/haccp.

It is the responsibility of each exhibitor to assess the extent of their operation and ensure that adequate and suitable washing facilities and refrigerated/frozen facilities are provided.

Stands will not be permitted to process or serve food if they are in poor hygienic condition or pose an imminent risk of contamination to food or an imminent risk to health. 

Stands/kitchens/food preparation and dispensing areas must be in good order to ensure they can easily be cleaned and maintained in a hygienic state of repair. All surfaces likely to be used during the event should be non-porous and easily cleansable.

Anyone processing food must be able to identify the risks associated with their operation. The Government has developed a range of food safety management packs for different sectors of the food industry to help food business operators manage their food safety management procedures. These include Safer Food Better Business which is particularly relevant to smaller companies. For a full list of the management systems please click here.

All staff engaged in food handling must be properly trained, appropriate to their duties, and supervised to ensure they work hygienically. Evidence of this training may be required for inspection, so all relevant documentation should be made available onsite.

Key controls expected by venues where exhibitors are serving food within the confines of the venue must cover the following:

• Delivery
• Storage
• Preparation and display
• Hot or cold food holding

Click here for more detailed information on the controls required for the above. These controls should be detailed on a HACCP (Hazard Analysis, Control & Monitoring for the Preparation, Cooking, Storage and Serving of Foods).

HRC is proud to partner with City Harvest to collect and distribute food donations from exhibitors. Please bring donations to the HRC Hub, stand H1850. Please find further information here regarding surplus food donations. 

When you import food into the UK for commercial purposes, you need to familiarise yourself with regulations that apply to specific products and with more general rules about things such as labelling and additives.

We suggest that you consult the Food Standards Agency website for useful information: www.food.gov.uk or alternatively contact our official Freight Forwarding Agents - ILS.

 All food handlers working with open food must:

• Keep their hands clean and cover any cuts with a blue, waterproof dressing.
• Wear clean and washable over-clothing.
• Keep personal clothing and bags out of areas where open food is handled unless it is stored in a cupboard.
• Change gloves (where used) regularly and wash hands in between.
• Not handle open food when suffering, and within 48 hours of suffering from gastro-enteritis, dysentery, any infection, boils, or septic cuts etc. likely to cause food poisoning. They should contact their doctor immediately.

Environmental Health Officers may inspect stands. Failure to comply with the requirements of the legislation may result in formal action being taken and the likely stopping of sampling activity or even closure of the stand. A person found guilty of an offence is liable to a fine or imprisonment or both.

If you require any further information, please contact:

Newham Environmental Health Office
T: +44 (0)20 8430 2000
E: food@newham.gov.uk

​​​​​ExCeL’s regulations state that all food and drink to be consumed on or given away from a stand as Hospitality (not including exhibitors own products) must be purchased from ExCeL London Hospitality (the official onsite catering provider); otherwise, you will be liable to pay a concession/corkage fee to ELH. Please contact ELH for clarification.

See information under Catering if you wish to provide stand hospitality.

1. All samples must be given out Free of Charge
2. Sample sizes must adhere to the following:
   • Unwrapped Food - “bite size” portions
   • Individually Wrapped Items - off-site consumption only
   • Drinks 

     Soft and Hot Drinks	50ml
     Beers / Ciders or similar	50ml
     Wine / Fortified Wines / Champagne / Alcopops or similar	25ml
     Spirits or similar	5ml

     A charge will be levied by the venue for serving sample sizes that do not conform to the above 
     
      

3. Any proposed sampling activity must be declared on the Health & Safety Declaration Form and verified by the venue.  An exhibitor sampling alcohol must also complete the Alcohol Sampling section of the Health & Safety declaration form.
4. You must complete a HACCP - Food Safety Risk Assessment (Hazard Analysis, Control & Monitoring for the Preparation, Cooking, Storage and Serving of Foods).  See Food Risk Assessment –HACCP section.
5. You must make adequate provision for food safety on the stand. Environmental Health Officers will be visiting the show and will have the authority to stop sampling activity if necessary. As a guideline, please find a simple guide on the following page.
   • Sampling must be carried out in such a way that visitors do not touch food that other people will eat, in order to minimise the risk of cross-contamination. The guidelines to follow are:
   • Samples should be placed where the exhibitor can see it to supervise visitors and clearly segregated from other stock. b.Ideally samples should be offered to visitors from individual, disposable plates, or small bowls
   • Try to avoid using food items e.g., breadsticks to sample food from dishes/bowls such as a sauce or chutney due to the possibility that it could break off into the sample and visitors could put fingers into the food to retrieve broken pieces.
   • Large bowls or mounds of food for sampling should be avoided, as this increases the risk of visitors touching food other visitors will eat.
   • Customers should not be allowed to ‘double dip’ sampling sticks/spoons/food items.
   • Bowls, dishes, or plates should not be topped up unless they have been properly cleaned before being replenished.
   • Provide a bin or rubbish bowl for visitors to place any discarded items, such as stones, from food or sampling sticks/utensils.
   • Accurate and verifiable food allergen information must be readily available (this can be in the form of original packaging

All sampling must be contained within the stand –no sampling may take place in the aisles or the venue Boulevard unless arranged with the Organisers, this includes the distribution of leaflets advertising your products to be sampled. If you’re interested in a sponsorship opportunity to sample in the aisles, please speak with your sales contact (who booked your stand). 

For further information on ExCeL's sampling guidelines, please click here.

There will be communal wash-up areas within the show, exact location/s is tbc. These wash up areas are specifically for utensil washing, if required, hand wash facilities must be made available on your stand.  Once you have completed and returned your Compulsory Health and Safety Declaration detailing the products you will be sampling you will be advised if hand wash facilities are required. 

Please Note – hand wash facilities can be provided in a number of different ways and do not necessarily involve the space and cost requirements of a plumbed-in facility.

For more advice, please contact ops.fdhw@montgomerygroup.com.