School Food-Safety Management Procedure

This procedure applies where [school name] operates a food business or catering operation that prepares or supplies food. It should be adapted to reflect the school's actual food processes and may form part of a wider food-safety management system.

Purpose and scope

The purpose of this procedure is to support the management of food safety through a current risk assessment and a documented food-business safety procedure. It covers food-safety controls, hygiene arrangements, start-up checks, changes to the food business, corrective actions, recording, review, and communication.

Responsibilities

[food safety responsible person] is responsible for coordinating this procedure, maintaining the food-business risk assessment and safety procedure, and ensuring that relevant changes and start-up checks are documented.

People involved in the food business should follow the school's documented food-safety procedure and report changes, hazards, or departures from the documented arrangements to [food safety responsible person].

Food-safety management arrangements

[school name] should carry out a risk assessment for its food business and have a food-business safety procedure or management system in place.

The documented arrangements should describe the food processes undertaken by the school, the controls used to manage food safety, and the hygiene practices that apply to those processes. The arrangements should be kept current so that they reflect the school's actual food business.

Changes to the food business

When changes are made to the school's food business, including changes to activities, processes, or arrangements, the person responsible should document each change and check whether it has introduced any additional hazards that are not controlled.

The risk assessment should consider the impact of each change on the school's usual hygiene and food-safety practices. The review should identify any controls needed to manage hazards arising from the change.

The change, its identified hazards, the controls considered, and any actions arising should be recorded in [food safety change record].

Start-up checks

Where a change to the food business requires start-up checks, the checks should be undertaken before the changed arrangements are used and documented in [start up check record].

The record should identify the changed arrangement, the checks undertaken, the date of the checks, and any action required as a result.

Corrective actions

If the risk assessment, review of a change, or a start-up check identifies an uncontrolled hazard or a departure from the documented food-safety arrangements, the responsible person should record the issue and the action required to address it.

Actions arising from the food-safety assessment or review should be recorded in [food safety action record] and followed through by [food safety responsible person].

Communication of changed arrangements

Where a change affects the way food is prepared or supplied, or affects usual hygiene and food-safety practices, [food safety responsible person] should communicate the changed arrangements to the people who carry out or oversee the affected food-business activities.

The communication should identify the changed food-safety arrangement and any action that people need to take under the updated documented procedure.

Review

The food-business risk assessment and documented safety procedure should be reviewed when changes are made to the food business and whenever the school's documented arrangements need to reflect changed food processes, controls, or hygiene practices.

The current version of this procedure is [document version] and was approved by [approving role] on [approval date].