The audit sheet · Check 01
The food standards pest rule, clause 24 line by line
Clause 24 of Standard 3.2.2 requires a food business to take all practicable measures to keep pests out of its food premises, and to eradicate pests and stop them sheltering there and in the parts of vehicles that carry food. It also keeps live animals out of areas where food is handled, with set exceptions, among them seafood, assistance animals in customer areas, and dogs in an outdoor dining area.
General information, not legal advice. For Victoria, FSANZ’s list of food regulators sends questions about food business registration and food safety programs to your local council’s environmental health officer.
The clause as written
Standard 3.2.2 is part of the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code, and this standard applies in Australia only. Here are the first two subclauses of clause 24, “Animals and pests”, in full:
“(1) A food business must –
(a) subject to subclauses (2) and (3), not permit live animals in areas in which food is handled, other than seafood or other fish or shellfish; and
(b) take all practicable measures to prevent pests entering the food premises; and
(c) take all practicable measures to eradicate and prevent the harbourage of pests on the food premises and those parts of vehicles that are used to transport food.
(2) A food business must permit an assistance animal in areas used by customers.”
Standard 3.2.2, clause 24, on the Federal Register of Legislation
Subclause (3) lists what a business may permit, and subclause (4) defines the terms. Both come up below.
Reading it phrase by phrase
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“A food business must”
The standard applies to all food businesses and food handlers in Australia, in line with Standard 3.1.1, which sets out how the food safety standards are interpreted and applied. A café and a caterer start from the same sentence.
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“All practicable measures”
FSANZ explains the phrase as doing everything a business reasonably can to prevent pest problems. Queensland Health’s guide to the same clause adds a limit: premises are not meant to be pest-proofed where there is no likelihood of pests getting in, and sometimes keeping pests out is better done for a whole complex, such as a shopping mall with a food hall. That is Queensland’s reading of a national rule.
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“Prevent pests entering the food premises”
FSANZ’s version is that pests are stopped from entering or living in the food premises. Its tips start at the building’s edge: mesh screens on windows, doors and other openings, weather strips at the base of doors, and no holes, cracks or gaps in ceilings, walls and floors, including around service pipes and wires.
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“Eradicate and prevent the harbourage of pests”
In FSANZ’s plain words, pests are not to be living in the premises. Queensland Health’s guide says places in the premises that could give pests shelter should be removed, and that boxed-in areas that are hard to seal completely should, where practicable, be opened up or given access for inspection and cleaning.
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“Those parts of vehicles that are used to transport food”
The duty travels with the food. FSANZ says pests are to be eradicated from the premises and from vehicles used to transport food, and its tips ask for food premises and transport vehicles to be kept clean and tidy.
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“Not permit live animals in areas in which food is handled”
The only animals the subclause itself allows in food-handling areas are seafood, other fish and shellfish. Victoria’s food safety site for food handlers puts it as never allowing animals, pets included, where food is prepared, stored or transported.
The animals a business must, or may, let in
Assistance animals, in customer areas
The clause defines an assistance animal by reference to section 9 of the Disability Discrimination Act 1992. Its editorial note says that section covers “a guide dog, a dog trained to assist a person in activities where hearing is required and any other animal trained to assist a person to alleviate the effect of a disability.”
A dog in an outdoor dining area
A business may let a dog that is not an assistance animal into an outdoor dining area. The clause defines that as an area used for dining, drinking or both, not used to prepare food, not an enclosed area, and one the public can enter without passing through an enclosed area. An enclosed area is one substantially or completely closed in by a ceiling or roof and by walls or windows, apart from doorways and passageways.
The same subclause also covers a cat or dog in an aircraft’s dining area, kept in a leak-proof container that prevents contact with food handlers.
What counts as a pest
Queensland Health’s guide defines it broadly: “A pest is any animal that could contaminate food, either directly or indirectly. It includes, but is not limited to, birds, rodents, insects and arachnids (spiders).” Victoria’s food safety site names the usual suspects, from flying insects and cockroaches to rodents, pantry weevils and birds.
The two clauses beside it
Victoria’s food safety site makes the link: keeping preparation and storage areas clean makes them much less attractive to pests. Two other clauses of the same standard describe that kind of premises.
- Clause 19, cleanliness. Food premises are kept clean enough that nothing accumulates: no garbage or recycled matter outside their containers, and no food waste, dirt, grease or other visible matter.
- Clause 21, maintenance. The premises, fixtures, fittings and equipment, and the parts of vehicles used to transport food, are kept “in a good state of repair and working order having regard to their use”.
FSANZ says pests are covered under clause 24 and in Appendix 7 of Safe Food Australia, its guide to the food safety standards in Chapter 3 of the Code.