Food safety training is not the only method to ensure knowledge and skills

With a population of around 26 million in Australia, foodborne illness is a significant health issue with around 4.1 million cases each year. The other important statistics related to food borne illness are the 32000 people being hospitalised and the 120 deaths.

These figures are frightening but are low when compared to many countries around the world. This is because Australia is known for having strong food safety laws for the food industry and community groups handling food.

However, whether a country has laws which require good food safety and quality or not, it all comes down to those in the food businesses to do what is required.

It is true that the most important asset any business has is it’s staff, as they can make or break that business.

The requirement in Australia is that the food handler (includes staff and volunteers) must have the required food safety skills and knowledge to do the specific task they are doing.

Food safety training is only the first of the ways that these businesses can help food handlers do the right thing.

Other methods to ensure this skill and knowledge include; regular updates in meetings, reading external information, helping review and update procedures and processes, and posters around the site.

Each of the state and territory health departments and Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) have good information, including food business related food safety posters, available to be downloaded and used by businesses or community groups. Some local councils also have their own useful tools.

The Food Safety information Council Ltd is focussed on informing the consumer about food safety and has posters and other useful material available to download. These are a great resource to use in conjunction with the materials from the government sites.

Another useful source of worthwhile food industry related posters is Pro-Visual Publishing. Each year this business works with FSANZ and other suitable organisations to produce useful posters for various parts of the food industry.

It also produces posters for other industries or organisation or topics.

The following are links to the 20-21 Pro-Visual posters. They are also available digitally with interactivity.

https://www.provisual.com.au/food.html – food manufacturing

https://www.provisual.com.au/clubs.html – hospitality clubs

https://www.provisual.com.au/restaurant–catering.html – hotels, restaurants, cafes