Single registration for mobile/temporary food premises

Page contents: Overview | Current requirements | What will change?

Overview

Food premises operating from relocatable tents, stalls, mobile vans, or on an occasional temporary basis from a permanent structure with the permission of an owner (such as from a hall), and vending machines will no longer need to be registered separately in each municipality in which they operate.

In future, these businesses will register or notify once. Councils across Victoria will be able to coordinate inspections and the follow-up of any hygiene or food safety problems.

The application process for mobile and relocatable food businesses will be greatly simplified.

Current requirements

Temporary or mobile food premises include relocatable tents, stalls, mobile vans and vending machines. Under the current Act, each stall or vehicle is required to be registered separately in each municipality in which it operates. This is especially burdensome for small businesses and community groups.

What will change?

When it takes effect in 2011, the statewide single registration system will enable market stalls, other temporary premises food vans, and food vending machines to operate anywhere in Victoria. To do so, the stall, van or machine will be required to:

• be annually registered with the one municipality in which the premises are based, or - if it is covered by the proposed class 4 and therefore exempt from registration - on a once off basis formally notify the one municipality in which it is based about the nature of its food handling operations; and
• lodge a statement of trade which specifies the details required in the particular case about where the stalls or vans will trade. The document will be able to be lodged simply online, and will automatically inform all affected councils.

Where a food business operates more than one van, stall or machine, they will be able to be registered or notified (as the case may be) as part of the one process, where feasible.

The requirements outlined for the relevant classes of food premises will still apply. For instance, a stall that falls within the description of Class 2 will need to have a Food Safety Program and a Food Safety Supervisor. However, if the proprietor operates more than one stall or van, they can all be covered by the same Food Safety Program.

In consultation with councils, businesses, community groups and councils, guidelines will be developed to explain how the standard requirements for audit, assessment or inspection (depending on the class into which the van or stall falls) will apply if there are multiple stalls or vans operated by the same business. The intention is to streamline the process whilst still ensuring that there are adequate checks of compliance.

In addition, as is the case with all other food premises, councils will retain the discretion to inspect food vans and stalls, other temporary premises or food vending machines in line with their own policies. For example, councils may inspect where there are concerns about an operator, to respond to a complaint, or to conduct9 October, 2009t up to support councils to implement the new system cooperatively across Victoria and to enable food businesses to complete the required documentation simply online.

The new system is intended to:

• lighten the regulatory load on temporary and mobile businesses, including community groups fundraising through selling food at fairs and markets; and
• ensure that each council has sufficient information to appropriately monitor the food operations in its municipal district.

The database and associated guidelines for local government must be fully operational before this new mandatory statewide single registration system applying across all 79 councils can operate. It is therefore expected that this system will not take effect until mid-2011, to allow time for these implementation steps to be completed.

However, from 1 July 2010 councils will be able to choose to recognise the registration of food vans or stalls already granted by another council. In such a case, the van or stall can operate in the district of that recognising council without having to be registered by that council. This is intended to assist a number of food businesses that currently require multiple registrations. It is an interim measure. It will be replaced by the mandatory statewide system for single registration on 1 July 2011.

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