About us
Regulatory services
Our Role
We work to ensure food produced in Queensland is safe, trusted, and meets national standards by:
- Ensuring compliance with national food safety standards across Queensland’s food production systems
- Supporting businesses across the food supply chain to understand and meet their responsibilities
- Identifying and responding to risks that may affect the safety and integrity of the food supply
- Maintaining public confidence in Queensland-produced food.
We regulate the production of primary produce in Queensland to make sure it is safe for human and animal consumption by:
- Regulating food safety schemes for primary production
- Advising the Queensland Minister for Primary Industries on food safety matters
- Monitoring compliance with hygiene and operational requirements across premises, vehicles, plant, and equipment
- Supporting industry to manage food safety risks through effective systems and practices
- Approving and auditing food safety programs and quality assurance measures
- Granting accreditations to primary production and processing businesses
- Training and approving auditors to assess compliance with food safety schemes
- Reviewing audit outcomes to ensure consistency and integrity
- Commissioning research to inform food safety policy and practice.
Supporting Industry
We work with businesses involved in primary production to:
- Minimise food safety risks by developing and maintaining food safety programs
- Adopt quality assurance systems that support safe and reliable production.
Our Powers
Under the Food Production (Safety) Act 2000, we have powers to:
- Develop and implement food safety arrangements
- Accredit primary production and processing businesses
- Establish and oversee auditing systems
- Approve and register auditors
- Investigate potential food safety offences.
Our Experience
Since 2000, we have regulated food safety in a complex and evolving risk environment.
Our team brings extensive, practical experience across:
- Food production and processing
- Industry operations and supply chains
- Food safety systems and standards.
This experience helps us understand how people, processes, and products work together to keep food safe.
Funding
We are funded through:
- A shared funding agreement with the Queensland Government
- Fees and charges for accreditations and regulatory services collected from industry.
Safe Food's Board
The Safe Food Board (the Board) ensures planning and governance processes work effectively and that reporting systems are reliable. It also ensures Safe Food follows sound financial management practices.
The Board provides guidance on administration and policies but does not manage day-to-day operations and does not have a regulatory role.
The Board’s main responsibilities are to:
- Decide the strategies, and operational, administrative, and financial policies for Safe Food Production Queensland.
- Consider advice from the Food Safety Advisory Committee and recommend to the Minister the fees for food safety schemes.
- Ensure Safe Food Production Queensland performs its functions properly, effectively, and efficiently.
- Review the performance of the Chief Executive Officer each year.
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Elizabeth Homer, Chair (non-executive director)
Elizabeth (Libby) Homer was initially appointed as Director in 2016 and appointed as Chairperson and Director for a term of one year, commencing from 24 April 2025.
Mrs Homer has had extensive involvement in the Northern Australia Beef Research area while she and her husband ran properties in Central Queensland.
She is also a Director of Anglicare Central Queensland. Libby holds a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology and has a Graduate Diploma from the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
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Katrina Platt, Director (non-executive director)
Katrina was appointed to the Board in 2025 for a term of three years, commencing 24 April 2025.
Katrina has over 20 years of leadership experience in the Queensland public sector and more than a decade as a Chief Financial Officer and senior executive.
Katrina has been a strong advocate for innovation in public sector financial management and corporate services. In her executive roles, she was responsible for ensuring the efficient, effective and economical management of departmental financial operations. She also oversaw a range of corporate functions, including portfolio and program management, ICT services and business risk management. Her leadership was instrumental in driving major digital transformations and organisational restructures.
Katrina’s experience spans both corporate and operational domains, including policy development and frontline service delivery.
Currently, Katrina serves as an Independent Member on several Audit and Risk Committees, including those for Queensland Health and the Department of Employment, Small Business and Training. She is also the Managing Director of a residential construction company.
Katrina holds a Bachelor of Commerce with majors in Accounting and Finance, is a Certified Practising Accountant (CPA), and a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
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John Piispanen, Director (executive director)
John Piispanen is currently the acting Executive Director of the Health Protection Branch of Queensland Health. For the 10 years previous, he was the Director of the Metro North Public Health Unit and has worked with Queensland Health for over 36 years. Prior to this, John spent much of his time working in far North Queensland as the Director of Environmental Health.
John is a qualified environmental health officer and has a Master of Public Health from James Cook University where he was awarded the Sidney Sax Medal for outstanding academic achievement. He has an Adjunct Appointment as Associate Professor with the University of Queensland.
John’s interests in public health include, food safety and standards, health risk assessment, regulatory interventions and also disaster and emergency response. He is a member of the Australian Medical Assistance Team (AusMat) and has also had the opportunity to undertake numerous international deployments including his contribution to the Ebola response in West Africa and COVID-19 response in Papua New Guinea.
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Ashley Bacon, Director (executive director)
Ashley (Ash) Bacon was appointed to the Board in November 2024 as A/Deputy Director-General of Agriculture in the Department of Primary Industries. Ash is responsible for enabling Queensland’s primary industries to prosper through the development of policies, research, development and extension.
Ash has over 20 years’ experience across corporate and business domains, holding several senior roles in the Queensland Government.
Annual Reports
For more information about our activities each year, please review our Annual Reports.