Food handler skills & knowledge

The Australia New Zealand Food Safety Standards require every food business to make sure that their food handlers have the skills and knowledge of food safety and hygiene for the work they do. This requirement came into effect on 24 February 2002.

This means that anyone who is involved in any activity that involves food, or surfaces likely to come into contact with the food must know about how to keep the food safe. This means that different people in the business will need to know different things about food safety to do their job and keep food safe. For example, a cook will need skills and knowledge in food safety and food hygiene that are quite different from those needed by a waiter or a dish-washer.

To help you understand more about food handler’s skills and knowledge you can download the following information sheet:

Food handler skills and knowledge, October 2004 (98kb, pdf)

For more information about the skills and knowledge requirements of the Food Safety Standards, Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) has developed a document 'Food Safety: Guidance on skills and knowledge for food businesses - Advice for food businesses on the skills and knowledge requirement of Food Safety Standard 3.2.2' which can be downloaded from the Food Standards Australia New Zealand web site.

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