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Food Safety Legislation

  • Our Approach
  • Food safety in Queensland
  • Food safety in Australia
  • Food safety standards
  • Our Approach

Managing food safety risks

Managing food safety risks is a shared responsibility between:

  • Consumers
  • Food businesses
  • Industry
  • Government.

Food businesses are responsible for managing risks during production and processing. Safe Food’s role is to check that businesses are meeting legal requirements.

Our approach

Safe Food works closely with industry to improve food safety across the supply chain.

Our approach is:

  • Based on systems, not just individual checks
  • Focused on prevention, not just response
  • Built on regular information sharing between businesses and Safe Food.

Businesses are expected to:

  • Engage with Safe Food
  • Share information in a timely way.

This two-way flow of information helps monitor compliance and improve practices over time.

Safe Food Baselines

Safe Food Baselines are a key part of this approach.

They are industry-agreed standards that:

  • Identify where food safety risks need to be controlled
  • Set clear expectations for managing those risks
  • Support consistent and stable food production.

Modern food supply chains can be complex. A single product may involve many steps, such as:

  • Inputs (for example, ingredients)
  • Processing (for example, cooking)
  • Monitoring (for example, inspections).

Baselines help ensure the right controls are in place at each step.

How baselines work

Industry helps identify key points in the supply chain where data should be collected.

This information is used to:

  • Track performance against agreed targets
  • Monitor system stability
  • Compare performance over time.

If performance falls below expected levels:

  • Businesses receive reports and alerts
  • They can investigate and fix issues early.

This helps prevent food safety incidents before they occur.

Safe Food can also:

  • Monitor trends
  • Engage early with businesses or industry
  • Support continuous improvement.

A collaborative model

Safe Food Baselines are developed through close collaboration with industry.

This includes:

  • Ongoing consultation
  • Industry knowledge and experience
  • Scientific research and evidence.

This shared approach ensures:

  • Baselines are practical and effective
  • Responsibility is shared between Safe Food and industry.

Benefits

Using Safe Food Baselines helps:

  • Manage risks in a proactive way
  • Target effort where it has the greatest impact
  • Improve consistency across the supply chain.

Most importantly, it gives consumers confidence that food businesses are producing safe food using clear, science-based standards.

  • Food safety in Queensland

How food safety is regulated in Queensland

Each state and territory manages food safety in its own way.

In Queensland, a shared approach is used where three government agencies work together to regulate food safety:

  • Safe Food Production Queensland
  • Queensland Health
  • Department of Primary Industries.

This is known as a shared food safety agency model.

Roles and responsibilities

Safe Food Production Queensland is responsible for the day-to-day regulation of:

  • Primary production
  • Food processing.

This includes industries such as:

  • Meat
  • Eggs
  • Dairy
  • Seafood
  • Horticulture.

The Food Production (Safety) Act 2000 focuses on managing food safety risks in these sectors. It also provides a framework to respond to new and emerging food safety issues.

  • Food safety in Australia

Australia has high standards for food safety. The system is designed to:

  • Protect consumers
  • Encourage good food safety practices.

A range of government agencies work together to make sure the food Australians eat is safe.

Food safety regulation operates at national, state, and local levels and focuses on achieving clear, measurable food safety outcomes.

Role of FSANZ

The Food Standards Australia New Zealand works with Australian governments, industry, and consumer groups to develop standards for primary production and processing.

This is done through Standard Development Committees for each sector.

  • Food safety standards

National food safety standards

The goal of Australia’s food safety system is to give consumers confidence that the food they eat is safe, while minimising the regulatory burden on food businesses.

Food safety focuses on preventing hazards at points in the supply chain rather than trying to fix problems at the end. This through-chain approach helps to:

  • Protect public health
  • Build consumer confidence
  • Safeguard international trade
  • Improve food safety outcomes for everyone.

National primary production and processing standards

Standards have been developed for:

FSANZ has more information on national food standards.