The City of Launceston offers a range of extra information and resources to help food business owners understand their obligations and ensure high food safety standards.
Developing a Food Safety Culture within your organisation can assist your team to take pride in meeting food safety requirements consistently.
Information and resources to develop this culture within your business are available online.
The City of Launceston takes food hygiene within our municipality very seriously. All food businesses have obligations to ensure food handlers have adequate food safety and hygiene skills and knowledge. City of Launceston is assisting food businesses to meet those obligations by providing free access to online food safety training.
The City of Launceston is assisting food businesses to meet those obligations by providing free access to online food safety training.
DoFoodSafely is a free, non-accredited, online learning program provided by the Department of Health Victoria and proudly supported by Queensland Health, South Australia Health and Tasmania Health.
DoFoodSafely is designed to enable you to understand how to safely work with, and handle, food in commercial settings.
By reading through the information in the seven topics below, you will be ready to undertake the assessment quiz and gain your DoFoodSafely Certificate of Completion – a certificate that is well-respected by the food industry across Australia.
Resources & Links
Any food business that is engaged in the wholesale supply, manufacture or importation of food must have a food recall plan. Food Standards Australian & New Zealand (FSANZ) has published recall templates for businesses to use to prepare their own Food Recall Plan. Advice is also available about conducting a food recall.
The Food Recall Plan should be used alongside the Food Industry Recall Protocol. It includes information about undertaking a mock recall, staff training and when a product should be recalled or withdrawn. The Food Recall Plan should be reviewed regularly to update any changes such as contact details and staff changes.
Packaged food and beverages must be labelled in accordance with the National Food Standards Code.
Further information is available from Food Standards Australia New Zealand and the Department of Health and Human Services Guide to Labelling Packaged Food.
Information about Country of Origin Labelling laws is available on the Australian Government Business website.
Food allergies can be life threatening and Australia has the highest allergy rates in the world. Nine foods cause around 90% of food allergic reactions - peanut, tree nut, egg, milk, fish, crustacean, sesame soy and wheat, (source the Allergen Bureau)
Symptoms of allergy can include hives, swelling of the lips, face and eyes, abdominal pain, vomiting, swelling of the tongue, breathing difficulty, dizziness or collapse. Some symptoms can be fatal.
Labelling on packaged foods must include the list of ingredients and if selling un-packaged foods, all persons at the food business must be able to provide information to their customers about ingredients in the food they are selling. It is a legal requirement under the Food Standards Code that a food business can provide accurate information on the allergen content of food.
Food handlers also need to be aware that cross-contamination by an allergen can occur during food handling processes so it is very important that there are systems in place to prevent this.
Read more: Allergy information for businesses.
Specific information for the food industry about providing gluten free options is available from Coeliac Australia.
Food safety programs assist food businesses to manage their food safety risks and if properly implemented provide evidence of due diligence that all reasonable steps are taken by the business to maintain a high level of food safety.
Audited food safety programs are a legal requirement for businesses serving potentially hazardous food to six or more vulnerable persons at any one time.
The City of Launceston encourages all food businesses to implement a food safety program to help them to follow practices that keep food safe.
The Department of Health and Human Services has food safety program templates available for retail and food service businesses to use to develop their own plan:
Food Safety Program Template
Food Safety Program Template Records
Food Safety Program Template Supplementary Practices
Food Safety Manual for Tasmanian Education and Care Services
Food Stall Layout Template(DOCX, 102KB)