All foods must be protected from contamination. There are three categories of contamination:
Physical contamination – foreign objects which have entered the food such as dead insects, glass, plastic, hair or metal. The risks of this type of contamination include choking; cuts to the mouth and the internal body; gastric obstructions; and broken teeth.
Chemical contamination – any number of chemicals, including agricultural and pharmaceutical chemicals, cleaning products, fly spray, rat poison and naturally occurring toxicants and allergens.
Biological contamination – living organisms such as pathogenic bacteria that cause food poisoning and parasites and viruses, such as, Salmonella, Listeria, Campylobacter and Noro virus.
Good practices will minimise the risks associated with these types of contamination.
To achieve SmartFood Accreditation the School must provide:
– the Local Council’s Environmental Health Officer (EHO) Report
Training in Food Safety
All schools need to ensure all food service staff and volunteers have the knowledge and skills to handle food safely. Local council websites have access to free online training courses.
Please see our Food Safety Section in the SmartFood Guide for more details and helpful hints. This includes information on storage, cooking temperatures, cooling, freezing, reheating, general cleaning and sanitising.
Below are a selection of food safety forms that are useful to use in your school canteen
Template 4 Temperature Records (2pages)