Up to 800 warnings served to food businesses
More than 800 South Australian food businesses were given written warnings in 2014/15 due to food safety breaches, the latest SA Health Food Act Report reveals.
Health Minister Jack Snelling said the written warnings were issued following inspections of more than 9,000 food business across the state.
“SA Health and local councils always aim to educate and build awareness to help businesses comply with food safety standards in the first instance,” Mr Snelling said.
“If a business does not improve, or in cases of serious public health risk, a range of enforcement actions are used to maintain the health and safety of the public.
“In 2014/15, local government Environmental Health Officers issued food businesses with 803 written warnings, 328 improvement notices, 114 expiation notices and four prohibition orders under the Food Act 2001.
“Three businesses were prosecuted and found guilty of breaches under the Food Act 2001, and the details of those businesses have been published on the SA Health Food Prosecution Register.
“What is pleasing to see is that overall the great majority of South Australian food businesses that were inspected complied with food safety standards.”
SA Health Director of Food and Controlled Drugs Dr Fay Jenkins said the public has an important role to play in alerting authorities to potential food safety issues.
“Councils received 1,082 complaints and reports from the public, which resulted in 640 inspections,” Dr Jenkins said.
“Of the complaints, the highest percentage related to staff personal hygiene or food handling, unclean premises and pest infestation.
“This is the first year we have reported on the new risk classification system, which is based on the level of risk associated with the food a business prepares or manufactures.
“This new classification system and our Food Safety Rating Scheme will be rolled out to any council that wants to participate from next year and will ensure we continue to improve and maintain food safety standards across the state.”
Source: Barossa Herald, 29th October 2015
Originally published as: Up to 800 warnings served to food businesses
