Our Frequently Asked Questions page includes answers to many commonly asked questions about Food Safety First and food safety training requirements throughout Australia.
Still can't find what you're looking for? Why not get in touch and ask us directly? We'll be happy to help!
A Food Handler is anyone that prepares, handles or serves food as part of their day-to-day job. There are many professions that handle food in some capacity even if it is not the main focus of their job and under Australian law (FSANZ Standard 3.2.2A), they must be trained in food safety.
A Food Safety Supervisor is a little different. According to FSANZ Standard 3.2.2A, it's a legal requirement that at least one person from every food business is nominated as a Food Safety Supervisor. This is necessary in order for food businesses to obtain a food business licence, which is required to operate legally.
Food Safety Supervisors need to undertake more comprehensive food safety training than Food Handlers. This training can also be delivered via a short online course. Food Safety Supervisors require Level 1 and Level 2 training - whereas Food Handlers only need Level 1 training, or its equivalent.
For those who work in hospitality, have already done Level 1, and wish to complete Food Safety Supervisor training, they only need to complete the Level 2 part of the course.
Food Safety First offer both Food Safety Supervisor (Level 2) and Food Safety Supervisor (Level 1 & 2) training, as well as the Food Handling Certificate (Level 1) course.
Note: Health & Community students must undertake the full Food Safety Supervisor (Level 1 & 2) course to become a Food Safety Supervisor (the upgrade option is not available).
If you are taking Food Safety Supervisor (Level 1 and 2) then you will be awarded a Statement of Attainment for one or more of the following industries:
- Retail
- Hospitality
- Health & Community
- Food Processing
- Transport & Distribution
Simply select your industry in the Student Registration form after enrolling into the course.
If you are taking the Food Handling Certificate (Level 1) course then you will be awarded a Statement of Attainment for one of the following industries:
- Hospitality
- Health & Community
Simply select the appropriate industry when enrolling into the course.
If you complete a nationally recognised food safety course with Food Safety First, you will receive a Statement of Attainment that is recognised across all states and territories of Australia. The Statement of Attainment will contain details of the units of competency attained, the date on which it was awarded and information about the Registered Training Organisation (RTO) issuing the document.
It’s important for Food Safety Supervisor training, that you select the correct industry as only certain industries are accepted in each state and territory:
- ACT: Hospitality, Retail and Health & Community are accepted
- NSW: Hospitality and Retail are accepted
- NT: Hospitality and Retail are accepted
- QLD: All industries are accepted
- SA: Hospitality, Retail and Health & Community are accepted
- TAS: Hospitality, Retail and Health & Community are accepted
- VIC: All industries are accepted
- WA: Hospitality, Retail and Health & Community are accepted
If you intend to work as a Food Safety Supervisor in New South Wales, you will also need a Food Safety Supervisor certificate from the NSW Food Authority. Food Safety First is an approved provider of these NSW certificates and you can select this as an option for purchase when you enrol on the Food Safety Supervisor course. There is a small fee associated with issuing this certificate.
The Responsible Service of Alcohol (RSA) course provided by Food Safety First is currently recognised in Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory with other states coming soon.
This Student Handbook is designed to provide you with all of the information that you need to make an informed choice, and as a reference guide throughout your training and assessment.
Please click here to download the document.
If you require further information or have any questions about the content of this handbook please send us an email via our Contact Us page or call 1300 856 836.
Paying for your course is easy! Simply click on 'Enrol now' for the course you want and follow the prompts.
Food Safety First accepts payment by Visa, MasterCard, American Express and PayPal. As soon as your payment has been made you will be sent an email immediately with details of your username, password and how to access the course.
All the prices on our website are in Australian Dollars (AUD). Please check the price of our products before placing an order.
Nationally recognised courses in Australia are GST exclusive, and so GST is not included on our tax invoices for these products. Non nationally recognised courses are subject to GST and this is included in the price advertised online.
As soon as you have placed an order with Food Safety First you can log on and get started with the course straightaway.
Upon successful payment, you will receive three emails within a few minutes:
1. A welcome email containing your user name and password
2. A course enrolment detail with instructions for accessing the course
3. A copy of a tax invoice for your records (please note that accredited training courses in Australia are GST exclusive).
To enrol in the course, you simply need to supply us with your name, address and other contact details.
Later on, we ask you for further personal details including:
- Unique Student Identifier (USI)
- Date of Birth
- Gender
- Employment status
- When you left school
- Where you were born and what language you speak at home
- Other traineeships or qualifications that you've completed
- Disabilities
- Aboriginal / Torres Strait Islander status
- Your reason for studying
We are required to ask you the above by law in order to comply with the Standards for Registered Training Organisations 2015.
We also ask you to tell us how satisfied you were with the course and to give us some ideas on how we can improve in future.
You can rest assured that all data we collect is kept secure and private. Please see our Privacy Policy for more information.
Our policies and procedures on complaints and appeals are designed to establish a fair and equitable company process and procedure for dealing with client/participant complaints and appeals.
Complaint & Appeal Procedures
If you are studying with Food Safety First, then you must complete a Complaint or Appeal Form as appropriate, both of which are located here.
You will receive written acknowledgement of your complaint within 7 working days, and where possible a resolution will be sought within the same time period. Please refer to the Participant Handbook for further information about how the process works.
When you start your course, you will be asked to supply your Unique Student Identifier (USI). If you don't already have a USI you'll be asked to create one.
The USI system is a Government initiative launched on 1st January 2015, making it compulsory for all students participating in nationally recognised training to have this unique reference ID. The reference ID is 10 characters long and is comprised of numbers and letters. You can apply for a USI here. Once you have a USI, this unique number is assigned to you permanently.
One of the benefits of having this USI is that you can easily access details of any nationally recognised training that you have completed by looking it up on the USI website. This means that if you lose your Statement of Attainment, can't remember the units that formed your qualification or don't know the name of the Registered Training Organisation (RTO) that issued your qualification it doesn't matter, as all of this information is stored in one central location.
If you are exempt from requiring an USI, then the results of your training will not be accessible through the Commonwealth and will not appear on any authenticated transcript prepared by the Registrar.
Please note that your USI is different to the student ID that you were provided by Food Safety First when you enrolled onto the course.
Applying for a Unique Student Identifier (USI) is free of charge and just takes a few minutes to do.
Begin by visiting the USI website. You'll need to have a form of ID ready to complete your application. This could be any of the following:
- Driver's Licence
- Medicare Card
- Australian Passport
- Visa
- Australian Birth Certificate
- Certificate of Registration by Descent
- Citizenship Certificate
- ImmiCard
You'll then need to supply some personal information including your name, date of birth, place of birth, gender and country in which you intend to study.
Finally, you need to provide answers to some check questions that you will be asked the next time you try to access the website.
Once you have completed the online form, you will be issued with a USI that can be used to access your account and check training details at any time.
All of our forms are located here.
The forms that are available at this location are:
- Participant Information Handbook
- Information Release Form
- Statutory Declaration Form
- National Recognition Application Form
- Complaints Form
- Refund Request Form
- Appeals Form
- RPL Application Form
- SOA Reissue Request
Food safety refers to best practices in receiving, storing, handling, preparing and serving food to help minimise the risk of individuals experiencing food-borne illnesses.
Food safety principles were created to help protect food from biological, chemical and physical contamination that can cause food poisoning and other illnesses or injuries. Safe food handling practices that contribute to food safety include:
- Effectively cleaning and sanitising all surfaces, equipment and utensils
- Upholding high standards of personal hygiene, especially proper hand washing
- Properly storing, chilling and heating food using correct environmental, time and temperature controls, and suitable equipment
- Implementing effective pest control measures
- Understanding food allergies, food poisoning and food intolerance
Australian food businesses are responsible for food safety in their organisation and must make sure that all food handled and prepared in the business is safe to eat. There are a vast number of potential food safety risks that can occur in a food handling environment, which could lead to serious consequences, so it’s imperative that proper food safety principles are always followed.
As per FSANZ Standard 3.2.2A, every person who handles food must be trained in food safety. All food businesses also require one or more Food Safety Supervisors. To ensure compliance with this regulation, Food Safety First’s nationally recognised Food Handling Certificate (Level 1) course or Food Safety Supervisor (Level 1 & 2) training is recommended for all food workers.
For the following courses an Observer Report is a mandatory part of the assessment:
- Food Safety Supervisor (Level 1 & 2)
- Food Safety Supervisor (Level 2)
- Food Handling Certificate (Level 1)
For the Responsible Service of Alcohol (RSA) course, you can choose between completing an Observer Report or a video assessment.
As these courses are nationally recognised, it’s important that we adhere to the rules and regulations set out by the Vocational Education and Training (VET) authorities and relevant Industry Skills Councils.
The course content that we need to deliver is determined by the Industry Skills Councils. They also have rules about how training organisations need to assess students training to be a Food Safety Supervisor, or a Responsible Server of Alcohol.
One of the rules is that students need to be observed demonstrating practical skills associated with the training. As we deliver online training, we can’t see you doing that through your computer. It can be difficult to arrange classroom assessments at dates and times that suit everyone, and we have many students that live in remote and regional areas who wouldn’t be able to travel so far.
At Food Safety First, we have found the easiest way to meet this requirement is to provide you with an Observer Report so that you can ask someone in your workplace to confirm that they have seen you do things like washing your hands correctly and wearing appropriate clothing for work.
Our aim is to make this course as simple as possible for you and to not provide any roadblocks that will prevent you getting your Statement of Attainment as soon as possible.
If you wish to take a food safety course that does not have an Observer Report requirement, then why not consider the non-accredited Basic Food Safety course?
For most of our students, the Food Safety Supervisor (Level 1 and 2) course takes between 6 and 8 hours to complete. This includes lessons, case studies, assessments and getting your Observer Report completed.
Our other courses usually take between 2 and 4 hours.
Don't forget that you don't have to do the entire course all in one go. You can do as little or as much as you'd like in any one session, and log on and log off as many times as you please.
The assessment tasks that you need to complete depend on what course you are doing:
Food Safety Supervisor (Level 1 & 2)
New South Wales:
- 19 x Quizzes
- 5 x Case Studies
- 1 x Reading Activity
- Observer Report (Online or Print)
All Other Locations:
- 19 x Quizzes
- 2 x Case Studies
- 1 x Reading Activity
- Observer Report (Online or Print)
Food Safety Supervisor (Level 2)
New South Wales:
- 16 x Quizzes (multiple choice)
- 4 x Case Studies
- 1 x Reading Activity
- 1 x Observer Report
All Other Locations:
- 16 x Quizzes (multiple choice)
- 1 x Case Study
- 1 x Reading Activity
- 1 x Observer Report
Food Handling Certificate (Level 1)
- 13 or 17 x Quizzes (industry dependent, multiple choice)
- 1 x Reading Exercise
- 1 x Case Study
- 1 x Observer Report
Basic Food Safety (non-accredited)
-
13 x Quizzes (multiple choice)
Responsible Service of Alcohol (RSA)
- 16 x Quizzes (multiple choice)
- 2 x Case Studies
- 1 x Reading Exercise
- 1 x Observer Report or Video Assessment
Observer Reports are a fundamental part of the assessment process at Food Safety First.
It's a mandatory requirement for nationally recognised food safety and alcohol service courses that students be observed performing certain tasks, and Observer Reports are a good way for us to do this without requiring you to come to a classroom or to send videos to us.
Your Observer Report can be signed off by anyone who works in the food or alcohol industry (depending on your course) who has observed you working with food or alcohol over a period of time. It could be someone you work with currently, someone you have worked with previously or even someone from a church or community organisation where you have volunteered your time.
The person you choose to sign off the report does not need to be a Food Safety Supervisor or a certified Responsible Server of Alcohol themselves.
At the end of each lesson in our nationally recognised training, you need to complete a multiple-choice quiz in order to be able to move onto the next lesson. You have five attempts for each quiz and must score 100% to continue.
If you use up all five attempts, don't worry! Simply get in touch and let us know your name, student ID and which course and lesson you were working on. One of our Support Team will then be in touch to help you progress onto the next part of the course.
For our non nationally recognised courses, you have unlimited attempts to pass the quizzes.
Don't worry, there's always a solution to this! We often have students who aren't working in the food or hospitality industry at the moment – sometimes because they are starting a new business or sometimes because they are trying to start a new career in the industry.
Whatever the reason, if you've worked in another food or alcohol service business in the last 12 months and you think that someone there has seen you do all of the tasks that are listed, then you could ask them to complete the form.
Or you could volunteer to work for a few shifts with a charity, community organisation or other food or hospitality business. Many places are happy to have volunteers help out in return for observing you do the tasks listed on the Observer Report.
If you're still not sure, then why not contact us and we can discuss some options in your local area?
Maybe - it depends on a few things.
First of all you should check the Statement of Attainment or Testamur from your previous qualification and ensure that the units of competency listed on there match the units of competency on our course pages. If they don't, you will probably need to take the course - but get in touch with us first to check.
You should also check the date on your Statement of Attainment. As per FSANZ Standard 3.2.2A, you need to renew your Food Safety Supervisor training every five years. And if you are in NSW, you also need to check that the Registered Training Organisation (RTO) is on the NSW Food Authority approved list. Food Safety First (RTO 41127) is an approved provider on this list although may be listed under alternate trading names - please contact us for more information.
If you are completing the Responsible Service of Alcohol (RSA) course, you can choose between completing a video assessment or an Observer Report for the practical assessment. You select your preferred option from the Student Registration form on the course page after enrolling on the course.
If you choose to complete a video assessment, you will receive an email with a link to our pre-recorded scenarios. You can click on the link to access the assessment at any time – however, we recommend completing all of the lessons and quizzes in the course first.
When it’s time to complete the video assessment, be sure to download the Video Instructions PDF and keep it handy. This document guides you step by step through everything you need to include in the videos you record.
The video assessment can be completed on any device with a webcam and microphone.
We’ve given Responsible Service of Alcohol (RSA) students the choice between completing a video assessment or an Observer Report for the practical part of their course.
If you’re new to the industry, you should complete the video assessment. This involves interacting with some pre-recorded videos using your mobile, tablet or desktop - any device with a webcam and microphone.
If you’ve been working in the industry for some time and have a supervisor or manager who has observed you serving alcohol within the last 12 months, you may wish to choose the Observer Report option. If you select this option an online form will be sent to your elected Observer to provide more information about the tasks they’ve seen you perform.
National recognition is offered to course participants who have already completed one or more of the required units of competency through previous formal education or training.
Participants who wish to apply for national recognition will be required to submit a certified true copy of their Statement of Attainment or qualification.
The following guidelines also apply:
- Any student is entitled to apply for national recognition in a course or qualification in which they are currently enrolled.
- Students may not apply for national recognition for units of competency or qualifications which are not included in our scope of registration.
- Whilst students may apply for national recognition at any time, they are encouraged to apply before commencing a training program. This will reduce unnecessary training and guide the student down a more efficient path to competence.
- The student does not incur any fees for national recognition and we do not receive any funding when national recognition is granted.
- National recognition may only be awarded for whole units of competency.
- National recognition will only be issued when the student’s enrolment includes at least one other unit of competency for which the student is participating in training or is seeking recognition.
- The recognition of a unit of competency under a national recognition arrangement is not contingent on the applicant demonstrating their currency. If the unit has been previously awarded and equivalence can be demonstrated then the unit can be recognised. The currency of the applicant is not a factor to be considered.
To learn more about National Recognition, or to find out how to apply, please contact us for more information.
Recognition of Prior Learning is offered to course participants who believe that they can already meet the skills and knowledge requirements of the course through previous work experience and formal, non-formal and informal learning.
To assess whether a course participant has sufficient experience we request that applicants complete the online quiz components of their chosen course, and that they also provide documentary evidence to demonstrate when and where the required skill were performed. We provide a Recognition of Prior Learning form to participants to assist in gathering this evidence.
To learn more about Recognition of Prior Learning, or to find out how to apply, please contact us for more information.
If you have completed the Food Safety Supervisor course with Food Safety First for the Hospitality or Retail industries and contact us within 90 days of completing the course we may be able to assist you with a NSW upgrade.
Express Certification is offered on certain Nationally Recognised courses and helps to ensure you receive your qualification as quickly as possible. If there is urgency or time sensitivity to you receiving your qualification, you may wish to consider this option.
The Express Certification service ensures your assessment is actioned by our team as a high priority. Typically this means your assessment will be actioned in less than one business day once you have submitted all required assessment material.
Once your assessment materials have been marked competent, your qualification will be immediately forwarded for processing, at which point your digital Statement of Attainment will be issued and sent by email.
In order for your assessment to be marked as competent:
- You must have provided a valid Unique Student Identifier (USI)
- You must have completed all required lessons, activities & quizzes and final submission
- A valid Observer Report (or Video Assessment) must be submitted
- Our Assessment team must determine all assessment materials to be sufficient
General
While we make every effort to ensure you receive your qualification as quickly as possible with our Express Certification service, we are unable to provide a guarantee of when you will receive your qualification. Many factors are used to determine the validity of your assessment materials and we are unable to make any guarantees relating to when your assessment will be deemed competent.
Business Days
For the purpose of Express Certification, business days are to be considered Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm (Australian Eastern Standard Time), excluding any public holidays. Submissions received outside of these times (e.g. weekend) will be actioned on the next business day.
3rd Party Systems
Certain courses may require the use of third party systems in order to complete the processing of a qualification. For example, government systems used in the production of NSW Food Authority Certificates. In circumstances where reliant third party systems are experiencing downtime or technical issues we will endeavour to deliver your qualification as a high priority once technical issues have been resolved.
You need to make sure that you have the following in order to be able to complete a Food Safety First course:
1. A modern web browser Our courses use some of the latest eLearning technologies to deliver the courses. You will need to have a modern web browser to view and complete the course, and it's important that you have Javascript enabled.
2. An email address During the registration process, we will ask you for your email address. This is a mandatory requirement for you to be able to access our systems. Email addresses cannot be shared by students.
3. Adobe PDF Reader or Adobe Acrobat Some of the forms that you need to complete (such as the Observer Report) are in PDF format. To get the latest version of Adobe PDF Reader, go here.
4. Device with webcam and microphone (RSA students only) If you are completing a Responsible Service of Alcohol (RSA) course with Food Safety First, you will likely need to complete a video assessment. This requires you to have a mobile, tablet or desktop device with a webcam and microphone installed.
Food Safety First courses work on most computers, laptops and tablet devices. Due to the small screen size, we don't recommend using the course on mobile phones.
Food Safety First courses work on most computers, laptops and tablet devices. Due to the small screen size, we don't recommend using the course on mobile phones.
We recommend using the Google Chrome web browser for the best course experience.
If you've forgotten your password, simply click on the 'Login' button at the top right of the screen. Enter your Food Safety First User ID and then click on the 'Forgotten password?' link. You will receive an email inviting you to reset your password.
If you've forgotten your User ID, be sure to check the emails we sent you when you first enrolled. If you still can't find it, click on the 'Contact Us' button and send us a message telling us your full name and the course that you are enrolled on. We'll get back to you within 1-2 business days with the correct details.
We have tried to make our Food Safety First website and associated courses as easy to follow as possible. But we do know that, from time to time, our students may have some issues.
If you do have a technical issue, and can't find the answer in our FAQ section, please do contact us and we will be happy to help you!
But before you do that, perhaps try some of the following hints and tips to see if you can resolve the issue:
- Clear the browsing history, cache and cookies from your machine
- Ensure you have downloaded the latest version of Adobe Reader
- Log out and log back in again
- Check you are using the correct User ID (the first three characters are letters, the rest are numbers)
The Food Safety Supervisor (Level 1 & 2) course is available for the following industries:
Retail:
SIRRFSA001 - Handle food safely in a retail environment
Hospitality:
SITXFSA005 - Use hygienic practices for food safety
SITXFSA006 - Participate in safe food handling practices
Health & Community:
HLTFSE001 - Follow basic food safety practices
HLTFSE005 - Apply and monitor food safety requirements
HLTFSE007 - Oversee the day-to-day implementation of food safety in the workplace
Food Processing:
FBPFSY1002 - Follow work procedures to maintain food safety
FBPFSY2002 - Apply food safety procedures
Transport & Distribution:
SITXFSA005 - Use hygienic practices for food safety
SITXFSA006 - Participate in safe food handling practices
If you are taking Food Safety Supervisor (Level 2) then the unit of competency attained is:
SITXFSA006 - Participate in safe food handling practices
If you are taking the Food Handling Certificate (Level 1) course and select the hospitality industry then the unit of competency attained is:
SITXFSA005 - Use hygienic practices for food safety
If you are taking the Food Handling Certificate (Level 1) course and select the health and community industry then the unit of competency attained is:
HLTFSE001 - Follow basic food safety practices
If you are taking the Responsible Service of Alcohol (RSA) course then the unit of competency attained is:
SITHFAB021 - Provide responsible service of alcohol
Nationally recognised training is vocational training that has been developed based on the National Training Package for the given industry and is sometimes considered as "training by industry for industry".
When you complete a nationally recognised course you receive a Statement of Attainment listing the units of competency that you have achieved competency in. These units of competency are recognised across Australia and can be used towards further qualifications (such as Certificate III in Commercial Cookery) or skillsets (such as Food Safety Supervisor recognition).
Non nationally recognised training is not recognised with the Vocational Education & Training (VET) framework. This isn’t necessarily a reflection on the quality of the course – in fact, many industries develop their own training requirements outside of the VET framework.
Food Safety First offer the following nationally recognised courses:
- Food Safety Supervisor (Level 1 and 2)
- Food Safety Supervisor (Level 2)
- Food Handling Certificate (Level 1)
- Responsible Service of Alcohol (RSA)
Food Safety First offer the following non nationally recognised courses:
Your Statement of Attainment will be issued by Food Safety First Registered Training Organisation (RTO number 41127).
Visit the training.gov.au website to learn more.
That depends on where in Australia you will be working and the role you’ll perform.
Food Safety Supervisors:
As per FSANZ Standard 3.2.2A, Food Safety Supervisors must renew their training every five years.
Although we are not permitted to put an expiry date on a Statement of Attainment, it’s important to monitor and check you’re always within the acceptable five year period.
Alcohol Servers or Sellers:
Alcohol sellers and servers working in the Australian Capital Territory, Victoria or the Northern Territory must complete refresher training every 3 years. Those working in New South Wales must complete refresher training every 5 years.
There is no expiry period for RSA certification in other states or territories.
Other roles:
For other roles there is no expiry period on your Statement of Attainment – however, you should always check if the units of competency have been superseded since you last completed your course.
To view the latest units, go to the 'Units of Competency' tab on the appropriate course page on the Food Safety First website.
We can only issue Statement of Attainment copies for documents that were originally issued by Food Safety First RTO. We cannot access or see your results for training completed with other Registered Training Organisations (RTOs).
If you require us to issue a replacement, please go to the Contact Us page and send a request via the 'Student Support' tab.
There is a $30.00 charge associated with re-issuing a Statement of Attainment.
You sure can! If you are considering doing another qualification such as a Certificate IV in Hospitality or Certificate III in Catering Operations, then talk to the Registered Training Organisation (RTO) with whom you are doing the course and let them know about your food safety training with Food Safety First.
There are many courses that include the units that you attain with Food Safety First and so there is a good chance that you won't need to study the same thing again and you can get your qualification faster!
To find out which qualifications your units of competency can be used as credit towards, visit the training.gov.au website, search for the codes listed on your Statement of Attainment and view the list of qualifications that include that unit of competency.
The Statement of Attainment is issued to the person who completed the course with Food Safety First. It's not possible to issue a Statement of Attainment in a business name.
This means that an individual can move from one food business to another, and their qualification is carried to the new place of work with them. But don't forget that Food Safety Supervisors need to get re-certified every five years!
If you operate a food business and your Food Safety Supervisor leaves, you will need to nominate another Food Safety Supervisor and let your local council know. Of course, the new Food Safety Supervisor will need to hold a current Food Safety Supervisor certificate before you nominate them.