Here at Food Agent Australia, we’ve put together our list of the top 3 food safety program mistakes we commonly see food business owners make.
As independent food business consultants, we’ve seen our fair share of well-intentioned food business owners use online templates for their food safety program (FSP), only to find out it doesn’t meet council’s standards.
If you’re opening any food business, the right food safety program and food safety record keeping tools are crucial to get your food business approved by council.
To be clear, there are different food safety requirements depending on your local council’s food safety regulations which include:
1. Accredited food safety programs
Required for caterers or businesses preparing and serving food to vulnerable persons
This type of FSP requires an external auditor and accreditation from council
2. Standard food safety program
Recommended for all businesses, and is of accreditation standard (we just don’t have it audited and accredited)
3. Food safety diary
A bare minimum requirement for food businesses (all the record keeping documents required to operate a business)
When creating an FSP, here are common mistakes what you’ll want to avoid and why.
Mistake 1: Creating The Food Safety Program Yourself
Many food business owners find a food business template online and think it will suffice. The problem with this is that the template won’t be site-specific and may not meet Queensland or Australian standard.
This means that you may be missing important policies that are needed for you to compliantly run your business.
Often templates can be hard to follow, and many food business owners fail to realise that if you make mistakes in your food safety plan, that could impact your ability to obtain your accreditation and licence from council.
An incorrect food safety program can affect your ability to comply with your local council laws, along with your food businesses’ star rating and in turn, its ability to operate.
Food Agent Australia helps food business owners to create compliant, site-specific food safety programs.
If you would prefer to create it yourself, we still encourage you to ask for guidance from Food Agent Australia on the exact requirements to create a fully compliant site-specific food safety plan.
Mistake 2: Creating your own record-keeping document
It’s important to conduct accurate food safety record-keeping of your food business. Having a good record-keeping structure is one of the best ways to protect your food business.
Inaccurate record-keeping through templates or apps risks the protection of your food business from customers, if ever they make a complaint to council about your food business.
Food Agent Australia can provide food safety diary that is approved by council and has all the record keeping documents required for your food business. This ensures that your record-keeping is always compliant with council requirements, protecting you and your food business.
Mistake 3: Not working with an independent auditor
People who create their own food safety programs often don’t involve an independent auditor. Often this leads to their food safety programs being rejected by council, or a lower food safety star rating than they could potentially achieve.
Auditors make sure that your Food Safety Programs are fully compliant with your regional council’s requirements.
At Food Agent Australia, our clients get to use our in-house independent auditor who ensures that every Food safety program is fully compliant.
In the rare case that the auditor flags a concern, Food Agent continues to work with you to make sure you’ve got the right food safety program to match your business and council needs.
Ready to create your food safety program?
Don’t risk doing it on your own! Contact us here at Food Agent Australia so we can help take care of all the confusing and stressful details, so you can enjoy launching and running your food business.
