Food businesses have to adhere to food safety standards. Aside from compliance, this is essential for protecting the consumers from food poisoning. This also helps businesses maintain quality in their products and processes.
What are the food safety standards in Australia?
Food safety standards often include the following:
- Food labelling
- Storing, handling and serving food safely
- Food recalls
- Food safety in emergencies
Notice that it’s not just about food preparation. To ensure safety, we also have to look at the entire process, including the labelling and serving. It’s also important to provide adequate information to consumers so that they can make informed decisions on what they’ll buy and eat.
For example, in proper food labelling the following information should be present:
- Nutrition information
- Ingredients
- Use-by-date
- Use and storage instructions
Consumers should immediately see if the product contains allergens. Also, consumers have to know what to do with the product (use and storage instructions). Notice that ensuring food safety doesn’t end with the purchase of the product by the consumer. Once it’s in the hands of the consumers, they also play a role in ensuring food safety.
Storing, handling and serving food safely
On the other hand, the seller or business also has to play their role in following the food safety standards. In fact, the entire supply chain (including harvest, processing, transport, storage and distribution) has to be under scrutiny to protect both the consumers and the businesses.
It’s especially the case with storing food safely. Whether during storage or transport (food products are still stored but they’re on the move), good hygiene should always be practiced. In addition, potentially hazardous food should be stored at 5℃ or colder (or depending on what the food product requires to ensure safety).
Proper storage and transport can prevent food spoilage, as well as prolong the food products’ shelf life. This can result in safe consumption by the customers and greater profitability to businesses.
Here at Cooltrans, our role is to ensure safe and proper transport of refrigerated food products, including dairy, meat and seafood. This way, we help food businesses follow food safety standards by ensuring tight temperature control during transport.
