Impact Of Compliance Requirements On Workplace Procedures And Practices Relating To The Preparation And Selling Of Food

Legal requirements

The food safety regulation is applicable at every stage of food production, from processing and manufacture to distribution. The food safety standards in Australia require the food businesses to produce quality food that is suitable and safe to eat. The food standards include hygiene and health obligations that aim at reducing the incidence of food-borne illness. In order to set up food business in Australia, the proprietor of the business must comply with certain legal requirements (Newsome et al. 2014). There are four food safety standards in Australia developed by the Australia New Zealand Food authority (ANZFA) after consulting with the food industry, Sate and Territory health authorities and other interested individuals and organizations. The four food safety standards include the following:

• Food Safety Programs;
• Food Safety Practices and General requirements
• Interpretation and application
• Food premises and equipment

According to the Food Act, every proprietor of food business that is involved in preparing and selling of food must be registered with the Food authority irrespective if the fact that the Food Business is a ‘for-profit’ business or ‘non-profit’ business except for a ‘not-for-profit’ organization. The organization must provide details about the organization including its name, location, nature of the business and the name and address of the proprietor of the business. A license must be obtained by food businesses that are involved in the delivering, collecting or processing dairy products; handling raw vegetables, plants or fruit, seafood, processing of an egg or delivering meals (Charlebois et al. 2014).

The food business organization must appoint a Food Safety Supervisor for supervising persons dealing with food within the premises.

The construction and design of the food premises must comply with the following conditions in order to commence the food premises:

• the workplace must provided adequate space for fittings, fixtures and other equipments with a view to carry out the business activities;
• the workplace must be cleaned and sanitized to avert any dust, fumes, pests, smoke and other contaminants;
• there must use potable water supply facilities within the food premises;
• the food selling premises must have a waste and sewage disposal system;
• the food premises must have adequate mechanical and natural ventilation facilities;
• the premises must have an adequate lighting systems to carry put the activities within the food premises

The legal compliance for standard requirements that is applicable to the food premises are same for all types of workplaces that deals with preparing and selling of food be it , existing premises, domestic premises or new premises either used for temporary purposes or commercial purposes (Brown 2014). There are no specifications that could be applied to the construction and design of the food premises to make an ‘ideal premises’. Food operations differ, hence, the requirements for appropriate fixtures and equipments for the food premises vary.

In order to maintain the standard requirement that makes the design of the food premises an ideal workplace is often impeded by cost, aptness of structure and various other factors. Therefore, the workplace must be designed taking into consideration the food safety outcomes and the nature of the food operation carried out within the premises. This would be helpful under the circumstances where if there were non-compliance of the requirements standards, it would be easier to change the food operation process than changing the entire premises (Mohr & Hosen, 2013).

The Food Safety Standards set out by the Australia and New Zealand Food Safety Code (ANZ) shall be applicable to all food businesses in Australia. The proprietor of a food business must ensure that the food businesses comply with the standards mentioned by the food safety code.

The system and procedures related to the workplace must set out the requirements for people who are handles the food and the food business as a whole must comply with such requirements. The workplace dealing with preparing and selling food must have a ‘Food Safety Program’, which would signify how efficiently, the workplace prepares and stores the food and eventually how the food is sold.  The food safety program shall include the records of standard of compliance and other activities related to food. It also includes records of the potential hazards related to the workplace and the activities carried out within the business premises and how effectively such hazards are dealt with.

Workplace design

In order to ensure that the food prepared and sold are edible, safe and healthy the workplace must satisfy the following requirements:

• food items must be prepared by trained and skilled persons under hygienic conditions using anti-contamination procedures;
• the foods stored or on display must be labeled and protected from undamaged packaging and contamination by storing them in sealed containers;
• the storage areas must be clean, pest-proofed and sanitary to prevent contamination;
• the food must be refrigerated at 5 degrees or cooler;
• cooked or raw foods should be stored and displayed differently;
• foods on display must be served in clean utensils;
• the food handlers must use clean gloves while serving and handling foods to ensure safety;

A food business must ensure that it deals with foods that have less chances of being contaminated easily. Food that are potentially hazardous must be kept at or below 5 degree Celsius or at above 60 degree Celsius to prevent the development of pathogenic microorganisms. Every food business proprietor must ensure that the storage of food must be done under environmental conditions that would have an adverse effect on the safety and the suitability of the food (Davies, Brough & Johnstone, 2014).

A person who deals with preparing and selling of food is known as food handlers  and such person is responsible for ensuring suitability and safety of the food dealt with by the food organization. Hence, it is expected that the food handlers must be adequately trained and must possess skill and knowledge to handle with the preparing, storing, processing and selling of the food products. The food handlers must take reasonable steps to maintain hygiene, sanitary and safety of the food products and the environment of the workplace. Since the food handlers are responsible for performing these tasks, it is expected of them to take appropriate measures in minimizing the likelihood of compromising with the quality, safety and suitability of the food products.

Every food products must have labels or information about the products to ensure safety of the individuals consuming the products. In case the food business deals with providing ready-to-eat unpackaged food and such food is potentially hazardous, the food business must appoint a supervisor who is qualified by the Food authority for supervising the workplace premises and the activities carried out by the food handlers within the premises. Local councils may also inspect the food business carried out by the organization to ensure that the organization is acting in compliance with the food safety standards.

The workplace must maintain a public liability insurance that would cover some of the risks that may arise from the activities carried out within the organization. For instance, any customer falls sick after consuming any of the food products served or sold by the organization or trips over an exposed electrical cord.   However, the liability insurance will not cover for the damages that results from the default on part of the organization in preparing the food or in the food item itself (Rajapakse, 2016). A product liability insurance policy may also be adopted by the workplace that would cover injury or damages caused to customers or other people as a result of failure of the food product prepared and sold by the organization preparing and selling such food products.

References

Newsome, R., Balestrini, C. G., Baum, M. D., Corby, J., Fisher, W., Goodburn, K., … & Yiannas, F. (2014). Applications and perceptions of date labeling of food. Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety, 13(4), 745-769.

Charlebois, S., Sterling, B., Haratifar, S., & Naing, S. K. (2014). Comparison of global food traceability regulations and requirements. Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety, 13(5), 1104-1123.

Brown, A. (2014). Understanding food: principles and preparation. Nelson Education.

Mohr, R., & Hosen, N. (2013). Crossing over: Hosts, guests and tastes on a Sydney street. Law Text Culture, 17, 100.

Singh-Peterson, L., & Lawrence, G. (2015). Insights into community vulnerability and resilience following natural disasters: perspectives with food retailers in Northern NSW, Australia. Local Environment, 20(7), 782-795.

McDonald, M., & Wilson, H. (2016). Marketing Plans: How to prepare them, how to profit from them. John Wiley & Sons.

Rajapakse, P. J. (2016). Contamination of food and drinks: Product liability in Australia. Deakin L. Rev., 21, 45.

Lee, D., & Tongarlak, M. H. (2017). Converting retail food waste into by-product. European Journal of Operational Research, 257(3), 944-956.

Davies, B. J., Brough, M., & Johnstone, E. (2014). Food safety: maximising impact by understanding the food business context.

Davies, B. J., Brough, M., & Johnstone, E. (2014). Food safety: maximising impact by understanding the food business context.