Original story

Dodgy eateries face bite of tougher food safety regime

WA eateries could be shut and individuals jailed in serious cases of food safety breaches under tough new food laws. The Food Act will bring WA into line with national standards and increase penalties from a maximum $10,000 to $500,000 and/or two years jail for people found to be selling unsafe food. There are also fines of up to $250,000 for corporations for misleading  advertising, labelling and packaging of food. A survey of Perth, Vincent, Subiaco, Stirling and Fremantle councils, which control Perth’s most popular food districts, found they had carried out 5663 random inspections in the past 12 months at 2350 food premises. The Health Department has described the new food laws as a “paddock to plate” approach, replacing a system of inspections against prescriptive standards and compliance with a focus on mitigating and managing risks. But the hospitality industry has pointed to a lack of education ahead of what will be a stringent regime with tough penalties. Among new enforcement tools, due to take effect on July 31, health officers can issue improvement notices, with noncompliance leading to bans. Health Department Food Unit manager Stan Goodchild said the new Act adopted national regulations on food safety and would strengthen industry control. But Australian Hotels Association WA chief executive Bradley Woods said there had been no industry education programs or support provided to businesses to explain the new regulations. “They might expect them to come into effect but if they haven’t educated businesses or provided them with assistance in implementing them, it is not going to happen,” he said. 

BEATRICE THOMAS