Food Safety and Surveillance

 Public Health Unit Program

The aim of the 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.

• The 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.

• All food stalls at festivals are registered and inspected. There are approximately 10 major festivals conducted yearly in the municipality and numerous one off stalls.

• A food sampling program is conducted where approximately 250 foods are purchased from premises in the municipality and analysed to ascertain food safety and compliance with regulations.

• Customer requests relating to food hygiene, foreign object contamination, suspected food poisoning and food handling are investigated by the Unit.

• All food recalls advised by the Department of Human Services are actioned and information referred to relevant premises.

• Food Safety education is a major priority of the Unit. 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

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Further information

Public Health
C/O Richmond Town Hall
333 Bridge Road
Richmond 3121
Telephone 9205 5166
Email info@yarracity.vic.gov.au

Links

Within this site
Food Safety Standards

 

Information supplied by: Electronic communications & design officer - 9205 5214

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