Victorian Health Department officials have defended themselves against criticism of the administration of food safety enforcement in the State of Victoria. Australian Food News has published several reports in the past month about failings in food safety enforcement in Victoria. Today, several Australian newspapers have provided further evidence of the Department failing to alert the public to a number of serious food poisoning outbreaks that took place during 2011. One such incident involved a sushi... ...Read more »

Food lawyer Joe Lederman has raised serious concerns about weaknesses in the administration and monitoring of food safety enforcement in the State of Victoria. Mr Lederman, of food law firm FoodLegal, was quoted by the Herald Sun newspaper in an investigative article on Saturday 17 December 2011. The article revealed that laws that are meant to “name and shame” Victorian food businesses that have been convicted of food safety offences, have not been enforced. In the article, Mr Lederman... ...Read more »

The Australian Capital Territory today introduced a Bill into the Legislative Assembly that will allow the names of food businesses in the Territory convicted of an offence against the Food Act to be placed on a publicly available register. The Food Amendment Bill 2011 proposes an amendment also requires businesses in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) to display their current registration certificates to have suitably trained food safety supervisors at premises. Additionally, closure notices... ...Read more »

The sushi bar in David Jones’ famous food hall is among five businesses added to the NSW Food Authority’s Name and Shame list, after it was found to have breached the Food Standards Code in relation to temperature control, Primary Industries Minister Steve Whan said on Sunday. “The business failed to demonstrate that the temperature or any heating or cooling process in use will not adversely affect the microbiological safety of food and was fined $660,” Minister Whan said. “Prawn... ...Read more »

The NSW Government’s Name and Shame register has attracted more than four million hits since its inception two years ago, successfully meeting the increasing public demand for safe food information, Minister for Primary Industries Steve Whan said today.”That’s more than two million hits a year since the Name and Shame initiative was launched in July 2008,” Minister Whan said. “Consumers want to know the best and safest food service businesses to spend their hard earned... ...Read more »

Food retailers and a street food vendor have been caught mishandling and storing food at incorrect temperatures and ended up on the NSW Government’s name and shame website, Primary Industries Minister Ian Macdonald said today.A bakery and a Thai restaurant in Western Sydney and a temporary food stall in Cabramatta have received fines for risking contamination of food due to improper storage and display. “As the warm spring weather continues across NSW, this is a timely reminder for all... ...Read more »

Around two in every five NSW food retailers routinely inspected by councils in the last six months of last year failed to comply with all critical food handling practices, according to the most comprehensive food safety data ever published in the state. The report, tabled by the NSW Food Authority, established that the 150 councils in the state combined to initiate 23,352 inspections in the six months to December, 2008. The report comes after new laws were introduced from July 1, 2008 requiring councils... ...Read more »

A record 43 fines in eateries from Armidale to Warringah appear on the Government’s name and shame weekly update, Primary Industries Minister Ian Macdonald advised yesterday. Twenty-nine new names join the list, with nine food outlets receiving two or more fines. “For the second week in a row an eatery appears on the list which was caught allowing cigarette smoking in the food preparation area,” Minister Macdonald noted. “Food outlets need to be aware that it’s an offence... ...Read more »

The NSW Food Authority has reported that 10 per cent of food businesses investigated in the state have failed recent food safety inspections. Of the 23,000 food outlets inspected by local councils in the last six months of 2008, around ten per cent were found to breach or were alleged to have breached NSW food safety laws. The nature of alleged offences ranged from failing to maintain food premises to the required standard of cleanliness, to operating a food business without a license, and evidence... ...Read more »

Every food outlet in the state of New South Wales can expect a random health inspection in the year ahead as the number of additions to the name and shame website causes concern for health authorities. Primary Industries Minister Ian Macdonald said 40,000 food service premises would be the subject of about 50,000 inspections a year. “In practice, every food premises should be inspected at least once each year,” Mr Macdonald said. “All food businesses in NSW are inspected according... ...Read more »