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Health and hygiene - advice for food handlers

Health and hygiene - advice for food handlers Making sure you don't contaminate food through illness or unclean habits is important to keep food safe to eat.

• washing your hands with soap and drying them thoroughly
• stopping hair, clothes, jewellery or phone touching food or surfaces - for example tie your hair back, remove loose jewellery, cover open sores
• not touching ready-to-eat food with your bare hands - use tongs or gloves
• wearing…

  Published 22 May 2025

Health and hygiene - advice for food businesses

Health and hygiene - advice for food businesses If you're a food business, making sure no-one contaminates your food because of illness or unclean habits is important to keep food safe to eat. What are the requirements? Under Standard 3.2.2 - Food Safety Practices and General Requirements, food businesses need to do whatever they can to make sure no-one on their premises contaminates food. Under Standard 3.2.3 - Food Premises and Equipment, businesses need to provide staff with hand washing facilities, toilets and storage space for personal belongings. Reduce your risk

• only food handlers should be in food preparation or packing areas
• if…

  Published 22 May 2025

Food packaging

Food packaging If you're a food business, it's important to know what types of packaging are safe to use with your food products. What are the requirements? Under Standard 3.2.2 - Food Safety Practices and General Requirements, food businesses must:

• only use packaging material that is fit for its intended purpose
• only use material that is not likely to cause food contamination
• ensure there is no likelihood that the food may become contaminated during the packaging process.

• something contaminates food during the packaging process
• harmful microorganisms get into food from dirty or damaged packaging…

  Published 22 May 2025

Food traceability

Food traceability Being able to track food through all stages of production, processing and distribution will make it easier and quicker for you to recall it if something goes wrong. What are the requirements? Traceability requirements are listed under the following standards:

• Standard 1.2.2 - Food Identification Requirements, for labelling food
• Standard 3.2.2 - Food Safety Practices and General Requirements, for food receipt and food recall
• Primary production and processing Standards 4.2.1 to 4.2.9.

• You should know the details about the food on your premises…

  Published 22 May 2025

Mobile food business

Mobile food business If you're a mobile food business, you need to meet the same food safety requirements as other food businesses, regardless of the size of your business or how often you sell food.  Am I a mobile food business? Mobile food businesses use food premises designed to be permanent but movable, including: 

• food vans, trucks, trailers, bicycles, boats, planes and portable buildings (e.g. shipping containers)
• vehicles used for on-site food preparation (e.g. hamburgers, hot dogs and kebabs, coffee, juices, popcorn and fairyfloss), and the sale of any type of food including prepackaged food. 

Published 22 May 2025

Standard 3.2.2A- Food safety management tools

Standard 3.2.2A- Food safety management tools Food service, caterer and related retail businesses in Australia need to meet food safety requirements that came in December 2023.  What is Standard 3.2.2A?

• Standard 3.2.2.A is a national food safety standard and an extension of Standard 3.2.2 requirements.
• It applies to Australian businesses in food service, catering and retail sectors that handle unpackaged, potentially hazardous food that is ready to eat.
• Generally, these include caterers, restaurants, cafes, takeaway shops, pubs, supermarkets and delis, food vans and other facilities serving food.
• These businesses will implement either two or three food safety management tools, based on their food handling activities. The three tools…

  Published 22 May 2025

Temporary food premises

Temporary food premises If your business sells food at temporary events like markets, you need to meet the same food safety requirements as other food businesses, regardless of the size of your business or how often you sell food.  What are temporary food premises? Temporary food premises are structures that are:

• used to sell food at occasional events like a fete, market or show
• dismantled after the event, like a stall, tent or barbeque stand.

• Food businesses using temporary premises must comply with the Food Standards Code, including:
• …

  Published 22 May 2025

Food handler training

Food handler training Food service, caterer and related retail businesses in Australia need to meet food handler training requirements that came in December 2023. What are the requirements?  Standard 3.2.2A - 10 requires that each food handler who handles unpackaged, potentially hazardous food that is ready to eat, has, before engaging in that activity: 

• completed a food safety training course; or
• adequate skills and knowledge in food safety and hygiene to do that activity correctly and keep food safe. 

Published 22 May 2025

Food safety supervisor

Food safety supervisor Food service, caterer and related retail businesses in Australia need to meet food safety supervisor requirements that came in December 2023.  What are the requirements? Under Standard 3.2.2A - 11, category one and two businesses must: 

• appoint a certified food safety supervisor (FSS) before engaging in a 'prescribed activity'
  • the certificate must be from either a registered training organisation or an organisation recognised by the relevant food regulator
  • the certificate must have been obtained within the past 5 years
• ensure that the FSS is reasonably available to advise and supervise each food handler engaged in that prescribed activity. …

  Published 22 May 2025

Evidence tool

Evidence tool Category one businesses only Food service, caterer and related retail businesses in Australia need to meet food safety requirements about substantiating food safety controls, which came in December 2023.  What are the requirements? Standard 3.2.2.A - 12 requires a food business, when doing a specific ('prescribed') activity, to make a record that proves they have properly managed food safety risks.

• Records must be kept for at least 3 months.
• A record may not be needed if the business can show an authorised officer (food regulator) in some other way they have adequately managed the food safety risks.

• This evidence tool is designed to help a business…

  Published 22 May 2025