Access and use relevant information from organisational food safety program
Australian Food Standards Code
Food handlers must comply with the requirements contained within the Australian New Zealand Food Standards Code. This code can be viewed on the Australian Food Standards website or accessed through the Federal Register of Legislation.
To view the code through the Australian Food Standards website, visit: http://www.foodstandards.gov.au/code/Pages/default.aspx (Access date: 30/06/16).
Definitions
It is essential for food handlers to know some key definitions with regards to food safety:
➢ ‘Contaminant’ means any biological or chemical agent, physical matter, or other substances that may compromise food safety or suitability.
➢ ‘Biological agents’ include micro-organisms such as bacteria, viruses and moulds. Chemical agents include metals, pesticides and other chemicals that could contaminate food.
➢ ‘Physical matter’ includes physical objects that may be in food, such as string, paperclips and glass.
➢ ‘Chemical agents’ include any chemicals, liquid solid or gas that may contaminate food and make it toxic for consumption.
➢ ‘Contamination’ means the introduction or occurrence of a contaminant in food. Contamination of food has occurred if any of the contaminants referred to above are present in the food.
➢ ‘Potentially hazardous food’ means food that has to be kept at certain temperatures to minimise the growth of any pathogenic micro-organisms that may be present in the food or to prevent the
formation of toxins in the food.
You should ensure that you are also familiar with any other specialist terminology that may be used in the contents of legislation, regulations, codes of practice, guidelines and food safety programs that may be relevant to your industry, organisation and job role.
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Food safety
Food safety program
A food safety program is a legal requirement for high-risk food businesses to ensure that their food is safe for consumption.
This includes:
➢ Businesses that serve potentially hazardous foods to vulnerable people
➢ Seafood businesses
➢ Businesses handling manufactured and fermented meats.
A food safety program should also be produced to control hazards within other types of businesses that produce, handle and serve or sell food.
HACCP
Food safety is best ensured through the identification and control of hazards in the production, manufacturing and handling of food. Food businesses are therefore required to implement a food safety program based upon the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) concepts. The food safety program should be implemented and reviewed by the food business, and is subject to periodic audit by a suitably qualified food safety auditor.
The Food Safety Program is a written document which outlines how hazards are identified and eliminated. It must be kept in the workplace and is reviewed and updated annually. It should be used in staff training so that all members of staff involved in the storing, handling, preparation and disposal of food are fully aware of the necessary procedures. There should be clear procedures in place, and monitoring documents so that staff can record how they are implementing the food safety program in their day-to-day work.
Depending on the procedures being followed, you may have to check the contents and temperature of the fridge in your workplace at certain points during your shift, for example. It is important to record such checks taking place and it would be normal practice for there to be a monitoring document or form for you to sign to confirm that the checks have been carried out and any non-conformances reported and acted upon.
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Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP)
HACCP is an international system that allows food businesses to look at how they handle food and which introduces procedures for keeping food safe at all stages of processing/handling. The HACCP principles ensure that food is kept safe from biological, chemical and physical food safety hazards. The food safety program, which may be based on HACCP, must show that your organisation has:
➢ Identified any hazards that must be avoided,
removed or reduced
➢ Identified and monitored the critical control
points – the points when you need to prevent,
remove or reduce a hazard in your work
processes
➢ Procedures in place to put things right if
there is a problem with a critical control point
➢ Put checks in place to make sure your plan is
working
➢ Records of food monitoring activity.
HACCP – the seven principles
- Conduct a hazard analysis
- Identify the critical control points
- Establish critical limits
- Monitor CCP
- Establish corrective action
- Verification
- Recordkeeping
More information on these points can be found at: https://www.foodsafety.com.au/blog/the-seven-principles-of-haccp
Organisational food safety program
You must ensure that you are familiar with all aspects of your own organisation’s food safety program.
A food safety program may cover:
➢ Potential hazards
➢ Possible control measures
➢ Monitoring of control measures
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➢ Responding to hazards
➢ Program review
➢ Record keeping.
Within each of these categories may be specific work tasks and procedures that you may need to undertake in order to ensure food safety. You must ensure that you are familiar with these.
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Activity 1A
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1.2 – Follow policies and procedures in food safety program
Food safety policies and procedures
Depending on the nature of your role and the organisation for which you work, the policies and procedures in the food safety program may include some or all of the following:
➢ Cleaning and sanitation
➢ Hazards:
o control methods for each critical control point
o corrective actions
o systematic monitoring of hazard controls and record keeping
➢ Equipment maintenance
➢ Food:
o receiving
o storage
o preparation
o display
o service
o disposal
➢ Personal considerations:
o dress
o hygiene
o protective equipment and clothing
➢ Pest control
➢ Record maintenance
➢ Training.
The specific procedures in place in your organisation are designed to ensure that the food safety requirements are implemented correctly and consistently in the context of your particular organisation.
The specific procedures for displaying food, for example, will depend on whether your organisation is displaying hot or cold food, has permanent or temporary food displays, displays food that is pre-packaged, etc.
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You can find out about your organisation’s procedures by completing induction/basic training for your role, consulting your organisation’s food safety program, and by asking your supervisor or line manager for guidance. Your organisation’s procedures should state what tasks should be carried out, when and how.
You must ensure that you understand the procedures that are in place in your organisation and how they are applied in your own job role. You must be compliant with these at all times.
Food safety program monitoring records
To record food safety activities, your organisation will need to develop and use monitoring documents that allow staff to accurately record information in a consistent and clear manner. Forms that provide checklists and information fields specific to the task can save time and ensure staff remember to fill out the details that are required. These should be placed next to the equipment or in the relevant area so that staff can access these when checks and records need to be made.
Monitoring documents may include:
➢ Daily and weekly temperature records, for example:
o storage areas:
freezers and fridges cold rooms food display areas/counters
o cooking temperatures: ovens bain maries
➢ Hygiene checks, for example:
o cleaning work areas
o cleaning equipment
o vermin checks
➢ Waste management
➢ Stock checks
➢ Equipment maintenance.
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Activity 1B
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1.3 – Control food hazards at critical control points
Food hazards
In a food handling role, you have a responsibility to avoid or eliminate hazards in food which pose a risk to health.
It is important that you are familiar with the range of actual and potential food hazards which include:
➢ Actual or potential
➢ Chemical
➢ Insects and vermin
➢ Microbiological:
o bacteria
o natural poisons
o moulds
o yeast
➢ Physical:
o broken glass
o metal
o foreign objects
➢ Process-related where food is vulnerable to contamination:
o displayed food
o need for food to be touched by hand
o re-thermalisation or defrosting
o processes involving temperatures that promote rapid growth of micro-organisms.
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Critical Control Points
A critical control point is a point, step or procedure at which controls can be applied and a food safety hazard can be prevented, eliminated or reduced to acceptable (critical) levels. The critical control points will vary enormously depending on the type of food involved.
Typically, controls involve temperature and time in relation to the following aspects of food handling:
➢ Receiving
➢ Storing
➢ Preparing
➢ Processing
➢ Displaying
➢ Serving
➢ Packaging
➢ Transporting
➢ Disposing.
For example, the temperature of raw chicken upon delivery should be 5°C or below. If the temperature is higher than that, you should follow your organisation’s procedures in terms of what to do, but usually this would involve rejecting the delivery as minimum standards have not been met. However, bananas can be delivered at an ambient temperature, and so different rules would apply.
Methods of ensuring food safety
Food hazards should be controlled at all critical points and specific methods of ensuring food safety must be implemented. These will vary depending on the precise nature of your organisation, the types of food it serves, whether its food is served fresh or packaged and according to any other considerations, such as food preparation and delivery.
For example:
➢ Packaging control:
o using packaging materials suited to foods
o monitoring of packaging damage
➢ Protective barriers
➢ Temperature control
➢ Supervision of food displays
➢ Utensil control
➢ Providing separate serving utensils for each dish.
You must ensure that you are familiar with all practices for ensuring food safety that you must implement within your own work practice.
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