Food Safety Supervisor Requirements
The Food Act 2003 requires most retail food businesses (i.e. restaurants, cafes, takeaway shops, caterers, pubs, hotels, mobile food vendors etc.) to have at least one trained Food Safety Supervisor (FSS) appointed. The FSS must attain the required units of competency from an approved RTO under the NSW Food Authority’s program. Once they have completed the required training they will receive a certificate from the RTO. The certificate expires 5 years from the date of issue and will need to be renewed prior to the expiry date.
You must keep a copy of the FSS certificate on the premise and be able to produce a copy of it for inspection. There are also on-the-spot fines and penalties for failing to appoint a Food Safety Supervisor.
Approved training providers can be found at NSW Food Authority.
Under Standard 3.2.2A of the Food Standards Code, the following will be exempt from the FSS requirement:
- Food handling for or at a one-off or occasional event raising funds solely for charity (such as a sausage sizzle)
- Businesses that only manufacture or wholesale food (such as a manufacturer of bulk ham that is sold packaged to supermarkets) with no direct sale to consumers (other food safety arrangements will apply to these businesses)
- Food businesses that are not serving or retailing unpackaged food that is potentially hazardous and ready to eat (such as service stations selling food that remains in its original sealed packaging, a coffee van that only sells food that is not potentially hazardous).
Food businesses that are licensed by the NSW Food Authority will continue to be exempt from the Food Safety Supervisor requirement.