Food Safety

Victoria’s food safety laws affect everyone’s health and safety. Food-borne illness can cause severe illness and even death in vulnerable people.

Under the Food Act 1984, all food business owners (and community groups who sell food) are legally responsible to ensure that food sold or prepared for sale is safe to eat.  Nillumbik Shire Council is responsible for protecting the health of the community by minimising unsafe food being sold within the municipality.

The Act also requires food premises to comply with the Food Standards Code. The Code is a collection of individual food standards developed jointly by Australia and New Zealand. It is a criminal offence in Australia to supply food that does not comply with relevant food standards.  It is also an offence to sell food which is damaged, has deteriorated or perished, is adulterated, or unfit for human consumption.

This means that it is not only the business owner/proprietor who is responsible for food safety in the business. All staff in the business that handle and prepare food for sale to consumers are responsible for food safety.

Without compromising food safety, the Act is designed to impose only reasonable compliance costs on businesses and community groups that sell food. It does this through matching the level of regulation to the level of risk of different food business activities. As you'd expect, premises carrying out only low-risk food handling activities must follow simpler safety rules than those handling foods that are more likely to make people sick

Some of the activities that Councils Environmental Health Unit conduct to monitor the safety of food prepared and sold in Nillumbik Shire include:

• Inspecting food premises to ensure food is being stored, prepared and sold in a safe manner;
• Conducting food safety program compliance checks;
• Investigating food related complaints and incidents of illnesses associated with food;
• Collecting samples of different foods for analysis to confirm the safety of the products; and
• Following up on food recalls to ensure affected products have been removed from sale to the public.
• Ensuring foods are correctly labelled in accordance with the Food Standards Code.

Food businesses are classified into one of four categories, depending on the type of food sold.  The category that each business falls into determines the level of regulation and requirements imposed on the business.  A brief description of each category is included below.

Class 1 Premises

– those businesses that predominantly handle potentially hazardous food that is served to vulnerable groups.  Examples of these businesses include hospitals, aged care facilities and child care centres.  The business requires a food safety program to be written specifically for the business and a food safety supervisor for the site.

Class 2 Premises

– those businesses whose main activity is handling unpackaged potentially hazardous foods which need correct temperature control to keep them safe.  Examples of these businesses include restaurants, caterers, cafes and most manufacturers. The business requires a standard food safety program to be maintained and a food safety supervisor for the site.

Class 3 Premises

– those businesses whose main activity involves the handling or sale of unpackaged low risk foods or pre-packaged potentially hazardous foods not commonly associated with food poisoning.  Examples of these businesses include milk bars, convenience stores and wholesalers, water carters.  The business requires only minimum records to be kept.

Class 4 Premises

– those businesses that pose a low risk to public health.  Generally this includes the sale of pre-packaged shelf stable foods.  Examples of these businesses include uncut fruit and vegetables, bottle shops, simple sausage sizzles.  The business does not generally require records to be kept.

Specific information relating to each of these classifications can be obtained from Council's Environmental Health Unit 9433 3340 or by email at Health.Services@nillumbik.vic.gov.au

External Links

1.         Department of Health Food Safety Unit: http://www.health.vic.gov.au/foodsafety/

2.         Food Standards Australia New Zealand:  http://www.foodstandards.gov.au/