Food Safety
State legislation necessitates that all Councils carry out:
- regular inspections and enforcement of all food catering and food service businesses within the area and report to the NSW Food Authority on compliance with the legislation,
- investigate food complaints,
- undertake urgent food safety responses including urgent food recalls,
- report to the NSW Food Authority about food business operations in Willoughby City
Businesses involved include those which:
- sell or serve food directly to consumers
- produce food for direct sale to consumers as their main food-related activity.
Council has entered into partnership agreement with the NSW Food Authority. The partnership objectives are:
- safer food for consumers – reduce the impact of food borne illness caused by the retail food sector
- strengthen the food safety response capacity of NSW State and local government agencies
- better use of local and State government resources, including avoiding duplication of food regulation services
The partnership provides for a mandated role for councils which clearly states their responsibilities in the retail and food service sector, commensurate with their resources and capacity and also cost recovery.
In order to satisfy Council’s surveillance objectives for licensed food premises, Willoughby Council’s Compliance Unit carries out routine inspections (at 6 month, 12 month, or other intervals, as required), reinspections, investigations of complaints and other duties such as providing appropriate advice to operators and customers.
A register is kept by Council for all food premises and operators are required to notify details of their business to the NSW Food Authority. All businesses are provided a classification which determines the annual inspection frequency. With the exception of medium to low risk establishments as defined by “Food Standards Australia New Zealand” (FSANZ) most food shops and operations where food is prepared and served to the public will require a minimum of two primary inspections each year. Councils are entitled to charge a fee to carry out the inspections, as well as annual administration fees.
Food Safety Supervisors (FSS)
From Friday 1 October 2010 Food Safety Supervisor law has moved into its next phase.
A 12-month implementation period has been provided for certain food businesses to appoint their own Food Safety Supervisor (FSS) as it is mandatory that a premises has a FSS. A FSS will be required to be trained and certified to ensure safe food handling practices are carried out.
Poor food handling accounts for over a third of foodborne illness outbreaks in NSW, and costs the community around $416 million each year.