Food Safety Requirements
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 minimise the risks associated with these types of contamination.
The School must provide evidence of:
– the Local Council’s Environmental Health Officer (EHO) Report
Training in Food Safety
This can be accessed through the I’m Alert program. I’M ALERT Food Safety is an online food safety training program that various organisations such as Local Councils subscribe to and deliver FREE food safety training to the food handlers within their local authority. I’M ALERT Food Safety enables a consistent and efficient delivery of Food Safety Training. Please contact your Local Council and see if they offer this service.
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.