This course provides food handlers with essential food safety and hygiene knowledge for Australian food workplaces. It is designed around the core food-handler training topics identified in the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code, including safe food handling, food contamination, cleaning and sanitising, and personal hygiene.
This is a non-accredited awareness course. It is not a nationally recognised unit of competency and it does not replace a Food Safety Supervisor qualification, workplace-specific induction, regulatory requirements, or any training specifically required by a state, territory, local council or employer.
Food businesses and workers must follow their workplace food safety procedures and any requirements that apply to their particular business.
Food safety means handling food in a way that keeps it safe and suitable to eat. Food handlers can contaminate food at any stage, including receiving, storing, preparing, cooking, displaying, serving and transporting food.
Food handlers and their supervisors must have food-safety skills and knowledge appropriate to the work they perform. Additional requirements apply to certain food service, catering and retail businesses handling unpackaged, potentially hazardous, ready-to-eat food.
For food handlers covered by Standard 3.2.2A, required training covers four core areas: safe handling of food, food contamination, cleaning and sanitising, and personal hygiene.
Food can become unsafe through biological, chemical or physical contamination.
Biological hazards: Harmful bacteria, viruses, parasites, moulds or other microorganisms.
Chemical hazards: Cleaning chemicals, pesticides or other chemicals entering food.
Physical hazards: Foreign objects such as glass, metal, plastic, hair or other unwanted material.
Cross-contamination occurs when contamination is transferred from one food, surface, object or person to another. A common example is raw meat juices contacting ready-to-eat food.
To reduce cross-contamination:
Food allergens also require strict control. Follow workplace allergen procedures, use accurate ingredient information, prevent unintended cross-contact, and never guess when responding to an allergen enquiry.
Good personal hygiene helps prevent harmful microorganisms and other contaminants from entering food.
Food handlers should:
Wash hands thoroughly with soap and clean running water, then dry them appropriately. Handwashing is particularly important before handling food and after activities that may contaminate the hands, such as using the toilet, handling raw food, touching waste, coughing, sneezing, eating or touching the face.
Gloves do not replace handwashing. Dirty gloves can spread contamination in the same way as dirty hands.
A sick food handler can contaminate food and make other people ill. Food handlers must tell their supervisor if they have an illness or symptoms that could affect food safety and must follow workplace exclusion or restriction procedures.
Symptoms of concern can include vomiting, diarrhoea, fever or other symptoms associated with foodborne illness. A food handler must not hide symptoms or continue handling food when doing so could make food unsafe.
Follow medical advice and workplace procedures about when it is safe to return to normal food-handling duties.
Potentially hazardous food needs temperature control to minimise the growth of harmful microorganisms or the formation of toxins. Examples can include meat and poultry, seafood, dairy products, egg dishes, cooked rice and pasta, cut fruit and vegetables, sandwiches, pizza and sushi.
As a general rule, potentially hazardous food should be kept:
Temperatures between 5°C and 60°C are commonly called the temperature danger zone because food-poisoning bacteria can multiply in this range.
Where potentially hazardous food is prepared, handled or sold, an appropriate thermometer should be available to check food temperatures. Probe thermometers should be cleaned and sanitised before and after use as appropriate to prevent contamination.
The 2-hour/4-hour rule can be used for ready-to-eat potentially hazardous food that has been between 5°C and 60°C. The total time is cumulative, so all periods in the danger zone must be added together.
Total time between 5°C and 60°C | Action |
Less than 2 hours | Use immediately or return to refrigeration at 5°C or colder. |
Between 2 and 4 hours | Use immediately. Do not return it to the refrigerator for later use. |
4 hours or more | Throw it away. |
When in doubt about how long food has been outside temperature control, follow workplace procedures and do not take unnecessary risks with food safety.
Potentially hazardous food must remain under appropriate temperature control when it is received, stored, displayed and transported, unless the business is using a safe alternative control.
Cooked potentially hazardous food that will be stored for later use must be cooled quickly:
Smaller portions and shallow containers can help food cool more quickly.
Previously cooked and cooled potentially hazardous food that is being reheated for hot holding must be reheated rapidly to 60°C or hotter. Food should not be repeatedly cooled and reheated unnecessarily.
When receiving food, check that food is protected from contamination, packaging is intact where applicable, potentially hazardous food is at a safe temperature or otherwise safely controlled, and food is within any relevant use-by requirements. Store food promptly and rotate stock according to workplace procedures.
Cleaning and sanitising are different steps.
Cleaning removes food waste, grease, dirt and other visible contamination.
Sanitising reduces microorganisms on a clean surface to a safer level.
Food-contact surfaces and equipment must be kept clean and, where required, sanitised. Follow the manufacturer’s instructions for cleaning and sanitising products, including correct dilution, contact time and safe use.
Keep chemicals away from food and food-contact items. Do not place chemicals in food containers or unlabelled containers that could be mistaken for food.
Report pests, damaged equipment, poor waste control, broken surfaces, unsafe water supplies or other conditions that could contaminate food.
