Department of Health

Food safety programs

In Victoria, all class 1 and most class 2 food premises need a food safety program.

A food safety program (FSP) is a written plan that shows what a business does to ensure that the food it sells is safe for people to eat. It is an important tool to help businesses safely handle, process or sell potentially hazardous foods and maintain safe food handling practices to protect public health.

There are two types of FSP:

  • Non-standard (independent) food safety program: This type of FSP is written by a business to cover all their food processes and it’s adequacy is determined by a food safety auditor (for more information go to the Food safety audits page). A non-standard food safety program is sometimes referred to as an independent FSP.
  • Standard (registered) food safety program: This type of FSP is usually written by a template developer, or a business, and is assessed by a technical review panel for its adequacy. The department can then be asked to register the FSP. The department generally only does this for franchises with more than 20 premises in Victoria. A standard food safety program is sometimes referred to as a registered FSP.

The department has created and registered a standard FSP template for use by food retail and food service businesses. The department’s template covers the most common high-risk and potentially hazardous food processes, and is available, if suitable to the business’ activities, to use for free. The template is available from FoodSmartExternal Link .

Please note, the department’s standard FSP template is not suitable for food manufacturers, who must have a non-standard FSP.

FoodSmart

FoodSmart is a department-approved online food safety program template for those class 2 food businesses required to have a food safety program.

Reviewed 09 January 2023

Health.vic

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Contact details

Food Safety Unit

Phone 1300 364 352
foodsafety@health.vic.gov.au
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