Council and food safety

Staff serving food Council is responsible for inspecting all places that sell, store, manufacture, package or transport food for people to eat.

The aim of Council's Public Health Unit is to minimise illness or injury resulting from the consumption of contaminated food through the administration and enforcement of the Food Act 1984. Environmental Health Officers are the authorised people who do this job.

What we do

The Public Health Unit:

Registers and inspects all premises which sell, store, manufacture, package or transport food for human consumption (including liquor) – for example milk bars, delicatessens, restaurants, hotels etc. The exception to this rule is for premises that mainly handle raw meat or poultry which are registered and inspected by Primesafe. The Unit currently has approximately 1300 registered food premises.
Registers and inspects all food stalls at festivals. There are approximately 10 major festivals conducted yearly in the municipality and numerous one off stalls.
Conducts a food sampling program where approximately 450 foods are purchased from premises in the municipality. Foods are analysed to ascertain food safety and compliance with regulations.
Responds to customer requests relating to food hygiene, foreign object contamination, suspected food poisoning and food handling.
Acts on all food recalls advised by the Department of Human Services and refers information to the relevant premises.
Educates the community about food safety. This is a major priority of Council. Environmental Health Officers provide information and advice to food handlers during premise visits, conduct food handling information seminars and prepare and distribute a quarterly newsletter, ‘FoodNews’, to all registered premises.

Food businesses not governed by Council

Certain food businesses are not governed by the City of Yarra, but by other authorities. If a business predominantly does one of the activities listed in the table below (e.g. a pharmacy predominantly sells medicines, even though it might sell other consumable items like sweets), you will need to contact the relevant authority for enquiries.

Activity	Authority
Meat or game handling or processing	PrimeSafe
Poultry handling or processing	PrimeSafe
Fish and seafood handling or processing	PrimeSafe
Dairy handling or processing	Dairy Food Safety Victoria
The sale or production of herbal medicines	Chinese Medicine Registration Board of Victoria
The sale or production of medicines or consumable medical treatments	Therapeutic Goods Administration

Further information
Public Health Unit
9205 5166
info@yarracity.vic.gov.au