Which QLD Businesses Need a Food Safety Supervisor?

Queensland asks a different question from the other states. New South Wales asks what kind of food you sell. Victoria sorts premises into classes. Queensland asks one thing first: do you need a licence? If the answer is yes, you need a Food Safety Supervisor — and you need to tell your council who it is.

That second half is the part most owners have never heard of, and it has a deadline attached. Here is the whole requirement, taken from the Food Act 2006 (Qld) itself.

Which Queensland businesses need a Food Safety Supervisor?

In Queensland, every licensable food business must have a Food Safety Supervisor — the requirement follows your licence, not your menu. Section 86 of the Food Act 2006 (Qld) requires a licensee to have a Food Safety Supervisor within 30 days after the licence is issued, and to continue to have one at all times after that.

So the practical test is not “is my food risky?” but “am I a licensable food business?” Work that out first and everything else follows — our free Do I need a Food Safety Supervisor? checker does it in under a minute.

What counts as a licensable food business in Queensland

A licensable food business is one that manufactures food, or sells unpackaged food by retail — and, for non-profit organisations, one that sells meals on at least 12 days in a financial year. That definition sits in section 48 of the Act, and it is broad enough to capture almost every café, restaurant, takeaway, bakery, caterer, deli and food van in the state.

If you run a van or a stall, the Queensland food truck and mobile vendor guide covers the licensing wrinkles that come with trading across more than one council area. Sit-down venues are covered in the Queensland cafés and restaurants guide.

The businesses Queensland leaves out

Queensland's exclusions are written into the definition itself rather than bolted on as exemptions, which is why they are easy to miss. Section 48(2) takes a business out of the licensable category if it consists only of:

• Primary produce covered by an accreditation under the primary production safety schemes.
• Snack food — the shelf-stable, packaged kind.
• Whole fruit and vegetables sold as they are, unprocessed and uncut.
• Seeds, spices, drinks and ice.
• Non-profit meal sales below the 12-days-a-financial-year threshold — a sports club running a canteen on eight home game days is not licensable; the same club running it on twenty is.

One trap worth naming: the moment you cut or cook that produce for sale, you are no longer selling whole fruit and vegetables. A greengrocer who starts making fruit salad has changed category, not just added a line.

The 30-day clock, and the notification almost nobody mentions

Queensland is one of the few states where you must formally tell the regulator who your Food Safety Supervisor is — and there are two deadlines, not one. Section 88 requires you to advise your local government of the name and contact details of each Food Safety Supervisor within 30 days after the licence is issued, and then to advise the council within 14 days whenever those details change.

That 14-day rule is the one that catches established businesses. Your supervisor resigns, someone else steps up, the roster changes — and the council's record still names a person who left in March. Nothing about your food handling has changed, but your notification is out of date, and it is a compliance failure in its own right.

What reasonably available actually means

Queensland does not require your Food Safety Supervisor to be standing in the kitchen every trading hour — it requires them to be reasonably available to be contacted. Section 87 puts it twice: the supervisor must be reasonably available to be contacted by the local government while the business is being carried on, and reasonably available to be contacted by the people who handle food.

In plain terms, staff on shift need a way to reach the supervisor and get an answer, and a council officer who calls needs to reach them too. A supervisor who is uncontactable on a long holiday is not reasonably available, however good their certificate is — which is the practical argument for training a second person.

Category one and category two — the second rule, stacked on the first

Queensland's Food Safety Supervisor requirement and the five-year retraining rule come from two different laws, and confusing them is the most common mistake made about Queensland. The state Food Act 2006 says a licensable business must have a supervisor. The national Food Standard 3.2.2A, in force since December 2023, separately says that category one and category two businesses must obtain Food Safety Supervisor certification at least every five years — and that recognition of prior learning is not accepted for it.

Category one covers businesses that turn unpackaged, potentially hazardous ingredients into ready-to-eat food served without further processing — restaurants, takeaways and caterers. Category two covers retailers of ready-to-eat, potentially hazardous food who handle it but do not make it on site, such as delis and sandwich bars. Category one businesses carry a third obligation on top: substantiating their food safety controls.

The distinction has an edge to it. A Queensland food manufacturer is licensable, so it must have a Food Safety Supervisor under the state Act — but Standard 3.2.2A is aimed at category one and two food service and retail businesses, not at manufacturers or wholesalers alone. Two rules, two different scopes. The Queensland Food Safety Supervisor page sets out which applies to you.

Who licenses and inspects you in Queensland

In Queensland it is your local council, not a state food authority, that licenses ordinary food businesses and inspects them — which is why the notification in section 88 goes to the local government rather than to Brisbane. Queensland Health sets and administers the state-level framework; Safe Food Production Queensland is the separate body that regulates primary production safety for meat, dairy, eggs and seafood.

So the person who asks to see your certificate is an environmental health officer from the council that issued your licence. Our local pages for the Gold Coast, Cairns and Townsville cover the council each one falls under.

Do you also need a food safety program?

Some Queensland licensees need a documented, accredited food safety program on top of a Food Safety Supervisor, and catering is the main trigger. Section 99 of the Act requires an accredited food safety program where the business involves off-site catering, where on-site catering is the primary licensed activity, where the business is carried on as part of a private hospital, and where it involves potentially hazardous food prescribed under a regulation.

This is a heavier obligation than the supervisor requirement, and it is audited. If you cater off site, assume it applies to you and confirm the detail with your council before you trade — the categories prescribed by regulation do change.

Getting certified in Queensland

The Food Safety Supervisor Certificate covers the two nationally recognised units, SITXFSA005 Use hygienic practices for food safety and SITXFSA006 Participate in safe food handling practices, and it is recognised in every state including Queensland. It is $129, delivered 100% online, with your certificate issued within one business day and a money-back guarantee — assessments are marked seven days a week, so a Saturday enrolment does not sit until Monday.

There is no Queensland-specific top-up to buy and no state certificate fee, unlike New South Wales. You complete the nationally recognised units once, and your Statement of Attainment is what your council asks to see. Melbourne Tech Institute is a registered training organisation, RTO 45799.

If you want the full picture of what the course covers and what it costs, start with the Food Safety Supervisor course or the detailed cost breakdown.

Enrol now — $129 →