Food Handler Study Guide (Australia) 2026

Food safety law in Australia

Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) develops the Food Standards Code. The food safety standards in the Code place duties on food businesses to sell safe and suitable food, and health and hygiene duties on food handlers. State and territory food regulators enforce them, using authorised officers.

Standard 3.2.2 Food Safety Practices and General Requirements: temperature control, cooling, reheating, cleaning, health and hygiene.
Standard 3.2.3 Food Premises and Equipment: hand basins, toilets, storage and fittings.
Standard 3.2.2A Food Safety Management Tools: food handler training, food safety supervisors and evidence of key controls.

Standard 3.2.2A

Standard 3.2.2A came into effect in December 2023. It applies to food service, catering and related retail businesses, such as cafes, restaurants, takeaways, caterers, pubs, delis, supermarkets and food vans, when they handle unpackaged, potentially hazardous food that is ready to eat.

Category	Example	Tools required
Category one	A caterer or restaurant that makes unpackaged potentially hazardous food into ready-to-eat food and serves it	Food safety supervisor, trained food handlers, evidence of key controls
Category two	A retailer that sells unpackaged ready-to-eat potentially hazardous food made elsewhere, perhaps slicing, weighing or reheating it	Food safety supervisor, trained food handlers

Food handler training and the food safety supervisor

Before a food handler handles unpackaged, potentially hazardous, ready-to-eat food, the business must make sure they have done a food safety training course or have adequate skills and knowledge. A course must cover four topics:

Safe handling of food
Food contamination
Cleaning and sanitising of food premises and equipment
Personal hygiene

No certificate or particular course is required for food handlers. Businesses can recognise earlier training or experience, and may keep records to show an authorised officer. No fixed refresher period is set, but skills and knowledge must stay up to date.

Food safety supervisor (FSS)

Category one and two businesses must appoint a certified FSS before doing high-risk food handling.
The certificate must come from an RTO or an organisation recognised by the food regulator, and must have been obtained within the past 5 years.
The FSS should be reasonably available: working on site and overseeing food handling, or easy to contact, for example by phone.
Choose someone involved in day-to-day food handling. An owner who is never on site is not a reasonable choice.
The FSS manages food safety risks, instructs staff, reviews procedures, inspects the premises and builds a positive food safety culture.

Temperature control

Potentially hazardous food is food that must be kept at a safe temperature to stop harmful bacteria growing. Examples are raw and cooked meat and poultry, foods containing eggs, dairy such as milk and custard, seafood, sprouts, cut fruit and vegetables, cooked rice, fresh or cooked pasta, and sandwiches, pizza and sushi.

Keep potentially hazardous food at 5°C or colder, or 60°C or hotter. The range in between, 5°C to 60°C, is where bacteria grow fastest. If food must be in this range, for example during preparation, keep that time as short as possible.

Receiving deliveries

Chilled food: delivered at 5°C or colder.
Hot food: delivered at 60°C or hotter.
Frozen food: delivered frozen hard.
Check food is covered or packaged and free of mould, insects, droppings or objects like glass or metal.
Know each supplier's name and address.

Thermometers

Businesses that handle potentially hazardous food must have an easy-to-reach thermometer that is accurate to within 1°C. A digital probe thermometer is usually best. Infrared thermometers read only the surface, and fridge or bain-marie gauges show the equipment's temperature, not the food's.

Measure the core temperature of food with a clean probe thermometer.

Put the tip of the probe in the centre of the thickest part of the food.
Keep the tip away from bones.
Keep the tip off the tray or container.
Read the display once the number stops changing.

Clean and sanitise the probe before and after each use, for example with warm soapy water and an alcohol wipe.

Cooling, reheating and the 2-hour/4-hour rule

Two-stage cooling

Stage	From	To	Time limit
1	60°C	21°C	2 hours or less
2	21°C	5°C	A further 4 hours or less

To cool food quickly, split it into smaller portions in shallow containers, use a blast chiller or ice-water bath, stir liquids with a clean utensil, and let air flow around containers. Check temperatures with a probe.

Reheating

Food that will be held hot must be reheated quickly to 60°C or hotter, ideally within 2 hours, in a microwave, oven or on a stovetop. Do not reheat in a bain-marie, pie warmer or other hold-only equipment: it may be too slow. Avoid reheating food more than once.

The 2-hour/4-hour rule

This guide is for ready-to-eat potentially hazardous food that has been out of refrigeration. The times are cumulative: add up every period between 5°C and 60°C, including preparation, transport and display.

Total time between 5°C and 60°C	What to do
Less than 2 hours	Use, sell or put back in the fridge
2 to 4 hours	Use or sell, but do not put back in the fridge
More than 4 hours	Throw it out

Personal hygiene and illness

When to wash your hands

Before you start handling food, and when you go back to it after other tasks
Before working with ready-to-eat food after handling raw food
After using the toilet
After smoking, coughing, sneezing, using a tissue, eating or drinking
After touching your hair, scalp or nose
After handling rubbish, cleaning, or touching animals or children

How to wash your hands

Use only the basin provided for hand washing.
Wet your hands under warm running water.
Lather with soap and scrub fingers, palms, wrists, backs of hands and under nails for at least 15 seconds.
Rinse under warm running water.
Dry thoroughly with a single-use towel or a hand dryer.

Good hygiene at work

Wear clean clothing and aprons.
Tie back hair, remove loose jewellery and keep phones away from food.
Cover open sores and wounds.
Use tongs or gloves for ready-to-eat food, not bare hands.
Do not eat, spit, smoke, sneeze, blow or cough over food or food surfaces.

If you are sick

Tell your supervisor if you are sick or think you may have contaminated food. If you know or think you have a foodborne illness, such as gastro or hepatitis A, stop handling food. Go back only when a doctor says you are well enough, usually 48 hours after symptoms stop.

Contamination, storage and allergens

Food can be contaminated in three main ways:

Type	Examples
Biological	Bacteria and viruses from raw food, dirty hands, sick workers or pests
Chemical	Cleaning products, sanitisers or pesticides getting into food
Physical	Glass, metal, plastic, hair, jewellery or bandages in food

Keep raw food and ready-to-eat food apart.

Raw chicken on its own board with its own knife.
Salad on a separate board with a separate knife.
Raw food, its juices and the utensils used with it must never touch ready-to-eat food.

Store ready-to-eat food above raw food so juices cannot drip onto it.

Ready-to-eat food such as sandwiches, salad and fruit.
Dairy such as milk, cheese and yoghurt.
Cooked food in covered containers.
Raw fish on a tray.
Raw meat on a tray.
Raw poultry on a tray, on the bottom shelf.

Store food covered, in food-grade containers and off the floor. Keep cleaning chemicals labelled and stored away from food.

Allergens

A food allergy can cause anaphylaxis, a severe reaction that can be life-threatening. In Australia these allergens must be declared: peanut, tree nuts (almond, Brazil nut, cashew, hazelnut, macadamia, pecan, pistachio, pine nut, walnut), milk, egg, sesame, soy, fish, crustacean, mollusc, wheat, lupin, gluten-containing barley, oats and rye, and added sulphites at 10 mg/kg or more.

For unpackaged food, such as in a cafe, allergens must be shown with the food or given to the customer on request. Check ingredients with the cook, use clean separate utensils and surfaces for allergy-safe meals, and never guess.

Date marks

Use by: for health and safety. Food cannot legally be sold after this date.
Best before: about quality. Food can be sold after this date if it is still fit to eat.

Cleaning, sanitising and pests

Cleaning removes dirt, grease and food waste. Sanitising destroys germs. Always clean first, then sanitise: sanitisers do not work well on dirty surfaces. Premises, fixtures, equipment, utensils and food contact surfaces must be kept clean, and utensils and food contact surfaces also sanitary.

Scrape or wipe off food scraps, then rinse.
Wash with hot water and detergent.
Rinse off the detergent.
Sanitise.
Air-dry.

Sanitising method	How
Heat	Soak in very hot water at 77°C for 30 seconds, or use a dishwasher that sanitises (usually the longest, hottest setting)
Bleach solution	Plain bleach diluted to the right strength; throw it out after 24 hours
Alcohol	70% isopropyl alcohol or ethanol
Commercial sanitiser	Follow the maker's instructions

Pests such as rats, mice, cockroaches and flies spread germs. Keep them out, store food covered and report any signs of pests to your supervisor.