Food Safety

 FoodTrader is a website developed by the Victorian Department of Health as a resource to facilitate the online registration of temporary and mobile food activities for businesses and community groups across Victoria.

Operators of food vans, food stall, vending machine or drinking water carting business only need to register (or notify) the one ‘principal’ Council, which is usually the Council that your kitchen is or equipment is stored. You are then able to log all your activities across any council in the State via your single Streatrader account.  Those with registered domestic home kitchen that are wishing to sell the food at markets or events will still require a Streatrader Registration to record these activities.  

Use FoodTrader to:

• register or notify council

• pay for and renew your registration

• lodge your statement of trade

To begin your business or community group’s application for registration, all you need to do is visit the FoodTrader website, create an account and log on. Once you have logged on you will have access to the online application form which will then be lodged to your local council for review.

An officer will contact you to discuss your application and may arrange for an inspection prior registration.

Once we have approved your registration, you can trade anywhere in Victoria. Each time before you trade you simply log in to your account and complete a Statement of Trade (SOT), which will ask when and where you will be trading from your temporary or mobile food premises. Your SOT will then go to the relevant council to notify them of your activities in the area. Note: Statement of Trade is required for all sale of food to the public. You don't need to lodge a Statement of Trade if you are catering at an event that is not open to the public, such as a wedding or work function.

DoFoodSafely is a free, non-accredited, online learning program designed to enable you to understand how to safely work with, and handle, food in commercial settings. At the completion of the program and assessment, users will get a DoFoodSafely Certificate of Completion. It is recommended that employers provide this training to all food handling staff prior to commencing work in the food premises. This will ensure staff have an understanding of the food safety requirements necessary in a food premises, and their obligations as a food handler to provide safe and suitable food.

Council’s Environmental Health Officers (EHOs) investigate food related complaints. Unsafe or unsuitable food is food:

• would be likely to cause physical harm to a person
• is damaged, deteriorated or perished
• contains any damaged, deteriorated or perished substance
• contains a biological or chemical agent, or other matter or substance foreign to the nature of the food (e.g. mould, cleaning chemicals or a piece of glass).

I think I have food poisoning

If you have eaten food from a food premises within the Glenelg Shire and believe you have or have had food poisoning, you should contact Council’s Environmental Health Unit as soon as possible on 03 5522 2229.

The time between eating the food and the appearance of the first symptoms can range from 1 hour to as long as a week or more. This means that the last meal you ate may not necessarily be responsible.

Food does not need to be spoiled; it can look, smell and taste fine but can still cause food poisoning. An individual can experience one or more of the following symptoms in varying degrees of severity:

• vomiting
• fever and chills
• diarrhoea
• nausea
• abdominal pain
• bloody stools
• headache
• lethargy
• loss of appetite

Reporting a Food Complaint

If you find something wrong with your food, whether it be that you suspect it has made you ill or it may have some form of obvious physical contamination, you can report it to Council's Environmental Health Unit on 5261 0600 and follow a few steps to help with investigation. Watch the Food Complaints video to help you understand the process.

Complaint investigation

Food poisoning investigations can be difficult to conduct. In many cases the food poisoning has been reported too late and the suspect food has been completely consumed or discarded. However, it is still important to report your illness so that an investigation can be conducted.

If you have a food complaint there are several things that you can do to help the Environmental Health Officer (EHO) conduct their investigation:

• Place any contaminated/left over food in the freezer until an EHO comes to collect it.
• Keep any packaging and proof of purchase to help identify what the product is and where is was purchased.
• If possible do not remove any foreign object from the food or try to clean it.
• Write down the details of where you purchased the product and the time, how you transported the product, where you stored it and when you noticed the foreign object
• If you suspect food poisoning, please consult your doctor and contact Council's Environmental Health Unit on 03 5522 2229 as soon as possible.