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Cafes, restaurants and retail outlets
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The NSW Food Authority and local councils work together（https://www.foodauthority.nsw.gov.au/retail/food-regulation-partnership） at the retail business level to regularly inspect cafés, restaurants and retail food outlets to verify compliance with the Food Standards Code.
Retail food business operators should also contact their local council（https://www.olg.nsw.gov.au/public/find-my-council/） to check if they have any additional requirements such as planning and environmental approvals.
Supermarkets, delis, greengrocers and coffee vendors that sell food are required to comply with new food safety requirements, introduced under Standard 3.2.2A of the Food Standards Code. The requirements are outlined in each of the sections below, as well as in our PDF guideline:
Standard 3.2.2A guideline for supermarkets, greengrocers and delis（https://www.foodauthority.nsw.gov.au/media/8825） (PDF, 342 KB)
See also:
Standard 3.2.2A - Frequently asked questions（https://www.foodauthority.nsw.gov.au/node/21991）
Food Safety Management Tools quiz（https://www.foodauthority.nsw.gov.au/node/22060） to find out which tools apply.
Notification
Cafés, restaurants and similar retail food outlets need to notify the local council of their business and food activity details. How you notify your details will depend on the council. It may involve applying for a service, permit or approval, or completing a food business notification form. Checking their website is a good place to start.
Business owners should also contact their local council to check if they have any additional requirements such as planning and environmental approvals.
Contact your local council（http://www.olg.nsw.gov.au/public/my-local-council/find-my-council）
Food Safety Supervisors
All cafés, restaurants and retail food outlets need to appoint a Food Safety Supervisor (FSS) if the food they prepare and serve is:
ready-to-eat,
potentially hazardous（https://www.foodauthority.nsw.gov.au/help/managing-potentially-hazardous-foods） (needs temperature control), and
NOT sold and served in the supplier's original package.
Supermarkets, delis, greengrocers and coffee vendors that sell food are required to comply with the FSS requirement.
The aim of the FSS is to prevent consumers becoming ill from food poisoning as a result of incorrect handling and preparation of food.
See Food Safety Supervisors（https://www.foodauthority.nsw.gov.au/node/3186） for information on training and requirements.
Food handler skills
The owners of food businesses are responsible for making sure that all people who handle food or food contact surfaces in their business, and the people who supervise this work, have the skills and knowledge they need to handle food safely.
Businesses selling unpackaged, potentially hazardous, ready-to-eat food（https://www.foodauthority.nsw.gov.au/help/managing-potentially-hazardous-foods）, must also ensure their food handlers have appropriate skills and knowledge in food safety and hygiene under Standard 3.2.2A of the Code.
Businesses can choose how food handlers are trained. They may use or recognise free online food safety training programs, past experience, internal training tailored to suit their own procedures, or courses from vocational training providers.
Additional training is not needed if food handlers can already demonstrate adequate skills and knowledge for their duties.
See Food Handler Basics training（https://www.foodauthority.nsw.gov.au/node/21898） for more information and to access the NSW Food Authority’s free training course.
To satisfy the food standards, staff only need appropriate skills and knowledge for the tasks they perform. For example, someone who makes sandwiches will need skills and knowledge that are quite different to the skills and knowledge needed by someone who does the cleaning.
However, if some staff help with other work when people are away, or sometimes supervise other food handlers, they must also have these skills and knowledge as well as to do their regular work.
Requirements are set out in the Food Standards Code, Standard 3.2.2（https://www.foodstandards.gov.au/business/food-safety-standards） - Food Safety Practices and General Requirements, clause 3 and Standard 3.2.2A（https://www.foodstandards.gov.au/business/food-safety-standards） – Food Safety Management Tools.
Showing food is safe
Businesses that undertake higher risk food handling need to be able to demonstrate safe food practices under Standard 3.2.2A of the Code.
This requirement ensures the business is actively monitoring and managing key risks related to food temperature control, food processing, and cleaning and sanitising, which are critical for food safety.
It applies to services that process potentially hazardous food into a food that is ready-to-eat and potentially hazardous, and serve it to consumers. “Process” is defined as chopping, cooking, drying, fermenting, heating, thawing and/or washing.
Specific risks must be controlled related to:
food receipt
storage
display
transport
pathogen reduction (cooking)
minimising time during food processing
cooling food
reheating food
cleaning and sanitising.
Businesses can meet this requirement by:
demonstrating safe food practices, and/or
keeping records.
For more information, including templates for recording keeping, see Showing food is safe（https://www.foodauthority.nsw.gov.au/retail/standard-322a-food-safety-management-tools/showing-food-safe）.
See Standard 3.2.2A – Frequently asked questions（https://www.foodauthority.nsw.gov.au/node/21991） for more information.
Food safety controls
Health and hygiene
Food businesses need to ensure that food handlers and anyone else on the premises do not contaminate food.
Separate utensils should be used for raw and ready-to-eat products, otherwise all equipment used for raw foods should be cleaned and sanitised before they are used for ready-to-eat and pre-cooked prepared foods.
Food businesses also have specific responsibilities relating to the health of people who handle food, provision of separate hand washing facilities, training food handlers in food safety and hygiene,
Food handlers who are ill, particularly with symptoms such as vomiting, diarrhoea or fever, should not handle food for 48 hours after the symptom cease. They should inform their supervisor and not undertake duties that risk contaminating food.
Full requirements are set out in Food Standards Code, Chapter 3, Standard 3.2.2, Division 4 - Health and Hygiene（http://www.comlaw.gov.au/Series/F2008B00576）. See also Health and hygiene requirements of food handlers fact sheet（https://www.foodauthority.nsw.gov.au/media/421） (PDF, 157 KB).
Cleaning and sanitising
Food premises, including fixtures, fittings and equipment must be maintained in a clean condition and all food contact surfaces be cleaned and sanitised.
Cleaning and sanitising are two separate and important tasks. These critical processes help prevent the growth and spread of organisms that cause food poisoning and help reduce the activity of pests.
A food business must also ensure that eating and drinking utensils, and food contact surfaces of equipment, are clean and sanitised. Garbage and recycled matter need to be stored in appropriate containers.
The factsheet Cleaning and sanitising in food businesses（https://www.foodauthority.nsw.gov.au/media/416） (PDF, 339 KB) outlines requirements.
Food handling
Food businesses need to have measures in place related to receiving, storing, processing, displaying, packaging, transporting and disposing of food.
They must be able to demonstrate they have taken all practicable measures to ensure they do not receive unsafe or unsuitable food. This means businesses must make sure the food they receive:
is protected from contamination
can be identified while it is on the premises
is at the correct temperature when it arrives, if it is potentially hazardous (below 5ºC for cold food or above 60ºC for hot food).
For the storage and display of food, businesses must ensure it's protected from contamination and kept under temperature control.
Potentially hazardous foods must be stored and displayed at 5°C or below or 60°C or above and thrown out if stored or displayed at temperatures between 5ºC or 60ºC for more than 4 hours.