Food Safety and Hygiene Policy

Purpose. This policy sets the food safety rules for Sprout Cafe and the community meals program so that food served to the public is safe.

1.Purpose and scope

This policy applies to everyone who handles food at the hub, including learners on cafe shifts and volunteers at community meals. The cafe is a registered food premises with the local council and must follow the Food Act 1984 (Victoria) and the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code.

2.Food safety program and supervisor

The cafe will keep a written food safety program and the Cafe Supervisor is the food safety supervisor. The supervisor must be on site or contactable whenever food is prepared. The program, logs and training records must be available to the council environmental health officer on request.

3.Personal hygiene

Everyone handling food must wash their hands before starting, after breaks, after handling money or rubbish, and after touching their face or hair. Hair must be tied back and covered, jewellery removed, and a clean apron worn. Anyone with vomiting, diarrhoea, a cold or an infected cut must tell the supervisor and must not handle food.

• Wash hands for 20 seconds with soap and warm water
• Cover cuts with a blue waterproof dressing and a glove
• No eating, chewing gum or phones in the kitchen
• Tell the supervisor if you feel unwell

4.Temperature control

Cold food must be kept at 5 degrees Celsius or below and hot food at 60 degrees Celsius or above. Fridge, freezer and display temperatures must be checked and written in the Cleaning and Temperature Log Register at opening and closing. Food outside the safe range for more than two hours must be thrown out and the supervisor told.

5.Cleaning and allergens

Benches, boards, utensils and the coffee machine must be cleaned and sanitised following the cleaning schedule and the cleaning ticked off in the log. Allergens in every menu item are listed on the allergen chart behind the counter, and workers must check the chart and ask the supervisor when a customer asks about an allergen.

6.Receiving and storing food

Deliveries must be checked for temperature, damage and use-by dates before they are accepted, and the check written on the delivery record. Food must be stored off the floor, covered, labelled with the date and used in date order. Raw meat must be stored below ready to eat food.