The Australian Centre of Excellence for Local Government (ACELG) has released a report on food safety practices for Australian local governments.

The report comes from a research project that explored current attitudes and beliefs concerning food safety within a diverse set of food business contexts.

It also includes a food safety strategy template for utilisation by councils.

The study involved focus groups or interviews with food business operators and young food handlers to explore their food safety understanding, attitudes, practices and the organisational culture in which they participated.

The research concluded that local governments need to adopt a holistic approach to food safety that considers all factors influencing food safety outcomes.

It also called for the customisable food safety strategy template and accompanying guidelines to be used to assist local governments implement such an approach.

The report is available in PDF form, as is the customisable template, and accompanying guidelines.