Why We Conduct Inspections

We conduct inspections to assess whether a business is complying with their food health and safety obligations.

We routinely inspect medium and high-risk food businesses. We usually inspect low risk food businesses when we receive a complaint.

• Low risk businesses are those that sell only low risk packaged food
• Medium risk businesses are those that sell medium and low risk food
• High risk businesses are those that sell high risk food including cooked meals

What Happens During An Inspection

When we inspect your food business we assess:

• whether you have appointed a trained Food Safety Supervisor
• your employees' food safety skills and knowledge
• food handling controls, including:
  • storage
  • display and transport
  • processing
  • the risk of cross-contamination
• cleaning and sanitising, hand washing and proximity of facilities
• food temperature control
• pest control
• premises design and construction, including issues such as
  • water supply
  • disposal
  • adequate and safe garbage facilities
  • lighting
• food labelling.

Inspection Fees

We charge an annual inspection fee to medium and high-risk businesses.

We also charge a reinspection fee when we need to conduct a follow-up inspection.