FOOD SAFETY TRAINING FOR RETAIL FOOD BUSINESSES

Yes. EPEC’s Food Safety training meets the new 3.2.2A food safety standards.

Standard 3.2.2 - Food Safety Practices and General Requirements, and Standard 3.2.2A – Food Safety Management Tools, require businesses to make sure the people who handle food, and their supervisors, have skills and knowledge in food safety and hygiene appropriate for their duties.

To meet their Standard 3.2.2A obligations, businesses can choose how food handlers are trained, but it must cover:

• safe handling of food
• understanding of food contamination
• cleaning and sanitising of food premises and equipment
• personal hygiene
• no specific timeframe or refresher period has been set in the Standard

Businesses must ensure food handlers’ skills and knowledge are adequate and up to date.  As such, we recommend scheduling annual refresher training.

A Food Safety Supervisor (FSS) oversees day to day food handling operations, helps all food handlers to handle food safely and ensures food safety risks are managed.

They must be certified within the past 5 years and have skills and knowledge in food safety, especially around high-risk foods.

All learners who successfully complete the required Food Safety Supervisor unit(s) for their state and sector will receive   a Certificate.

• A Food Safety Supervisor employed in your workplace. 
• A person with Food Safety Qualifications - accredited units completed as single units or part of a course.
• A head chef or other trained food specialist.
• A workplace manager, Supervisor or Director.

The third-party report is an on-site assessment requirement. If you do not have anyone onsite to sign this report, you may need to approach your head office or volunteer at another workplace to complete the required activities. A person with Food Safety Qualifications – accredited units completed as single units or part of a course may include staff who have completed or are completing a Certificate III or Diploma level qualification that includes Units such as HLTFSE007 - Oversee the day-to-day implementation of food safety in the workplace.

Under NSW food safety legislation, only Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) endorsed by the NSW Food Authority are able to deliver accredited Food Safety Supervisor training.  

For NSW, a specific Food Safety Supervisor Certificate is required.

EPEC Education is approved to deliver this training and the NSW Food Authority certification. 

*Obligations under the legislation varies from state to state. Your regulator should have advised you about the new Food Standards, and whether you are impacted as a Category 1 or a Category 2 provider.

If you have questions or concerns in relation to your specific service model delivery and practices, we recommend that you contact the Food Enforcement Agency relevant to your state.  More information and contacts can be found on the: 

Food Standards Code ANZ website

For NSW providers, the NSW Food Authority have a useful short quiz for businesses to find out which Food Safety Management Tools apply under the new Standard 3.2.2A in the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code.

Click here to take the quiz.

No, although it is best practice for them to be on the premises while all food handling is undertaken.

The FSS must be ‘reasonably available’ as a point of contact for food handlers and authorised officers. ‘Reasonably available’ means the FSS works onsite and oversees food handling of high-risk unpackaged foods and can be easily contacted (e.g. by phone).

If the FSS is away (eg not on shift, on leave or sick), the business must still maintain food safety. Larger businesses that operate longer hours may choose to nominate several people to be trained and appointed as an FSS to help cover shift work and leave.

For some states, it is a requirement that there be a Food Safety Supervisor available for each site, not just one available across multiple sites.