Food Safety Programs

Under the Food Act 1984, a Food Safety Program (FSP) for a food premises is a written document that identifies the potential hazards that may occur during the preparation of food. It includes the standard procedures, cleaning program, pest control program, and hygiene standards which are followed by your business to minimise potential food safety risks.Class 1 food premises are required to maintain a food safety program appropriate to their food business activities.

Class 2 and 3A businesses are required to be able to substantiate that food safety is being monitored. This can includes undertaking additional training such as DoFoodSafely, All About Allergens, and keeping records. More information on training can be found on the Food Safety Training page.

Class 3 businesses are required to keep minimum records:

  1. the trading name of the supplier;
  2. the address and telephone number of the supplier;
  3. the types of food (for example, condiments, canned food, pre-packaged potentially hazardous food); and
  4. dockets or invoices received from the supplier.

Class 4 premises are exempt from requiring a food safety program or minimum records.

Community groups are required to fulfill the same requirements as for-profit businesses.

 

For further information of records requirements, download our Food Business Information Guide(PDF, 4MB).

 

FoodSmart Food Safety Program

FoodSmart is a standard Food Safety Program (FSP) developed by the Victorian Department of Health to assist businesses with the required documentation for their food handling activities. For businesses that conduct any one or more of the following activities, you must have an FSP:

  1. sous vide
  2. potentially hazardous foods that do not involve temperature control, such as sushi, cured meats, aged beef, smoked foods, Chinese-style roast meats
  3. acidified or fermented foods or drinks such as sauerkraut, kombucha, century egg
  4. ready-to-eat foods containing raw, unpasteurised eggs, such as mayonnaise, tiramisu, mousse
  5. ready-to-eat raw or rare minced/finely chopped red meats, such as steak tartare, rare/raw hamburgers
  6. ready-to-eat raw and rare poultry and game meats, such as chicken, duck, goose; and kangaroo, wild boar, emu, crocodile that are not raised on a farm
  7. off-site catering where food is prepared or partially prepared in one location, and transported to another location to serve or to finish cooking and serve
  8. Any other complex food process activity such as:
    • pasteurisation or thermal processing
    • modified atmosphere packaging
    • any food processing activity that does not involve use of temperature control.

 

Another option to having FoodSmart is to engage a third party department-approved food safety auditor to develop and approve a non-standard FSP.

For businesses that are conducting any of the above high-risk activities that are not covered by the FoodSmart FSP, you are required to have a non-standard FSP that is developed and audited by a department-approved food safety auditor.

Note that FoodSmart is not designed for use by food manufacturers, meat, seafood or dairy food businesses, such as butchers or fishmongers, as these business types have different requirements that are not covered by FoodSmart.

 

Records Templates

Record templates have been generated for food businesses and can be applied to many types of premises. Click here to download a copy(PDF, 622KB). This is not equivalent to having an FSP, only additional documentation. Businesses that conduct any one or more of the above must have an up-to-date FSP on site at all times.

 

Still unsure of what you need?

Contact us via email at environmentalhealth@hrcc.vic.gov.au or by phone on 5382 9777 for further information.

 

 

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