Food Safety
Food Safety
Our Environmental Health Officers help protect the community by doing regular, unannounced inspections of local food businesses like restaurants and cafes to ensure food handling and hygiene practices are compliant.
In addition, we run the Scores on Doors program, which displays food safety ratings. This initiative empowers you to make informed decisions about where to dine and recognises local businesses that uphold high food safety standards.
Report to us
You can report any concerns you have regarding the preparation, handling or quality of food by using this form.
These concerns may include:
National food safety standards, such as:
- staff training
- personal hygiene
- cleanliness of equipment
- cleanliness of a premises.
Investigate food safety concerns, such as:
- suspected food poisoning
- poor hygiene during food handling
- foreign objects found in food
- food sold or served past its use-by date
- misleading food labels or advertising.
NSW Food Safety Supervisor
All retail, hospitality and food service businesses need to appoint at least one Food Safety Supervisor (FSS) per premises if food they prepare and serve is:
- Ready-to-eat
- Potentially hazardous, that is, needs temperature control
- Not sold and served in the supplier's original package.
Find out more
Related articles
- Pre-purchase Inspection Application - If you are considering buying a food business and wish for City of Newcastle to conduct a compliance inspection.
Raise a request
Before you begin
When lodging your request, you will have the option to attach photos or other supporting documents.
Location Matters
Providing specific details about the location of the food business helps us address your request quickly. Please include cross streets, house numbers, or identifying landmarks.
Next steps
- You'll receive an acknowledgement with your request number.
- Your request will be reviewed and assigned to a Health Inspector. An inspection of the premises will be carried out, and any health or safety concerns identified will be addressed directly with the business operator.
- Once your request has been completed, you will receive a notification.
Time frames
- For high risk food complaints, we will investigate within a week.
- Low risk food complaints, we will investigate within a month.
Helpful links
- Scores on Doors - Assessment process
Thank you for providing feedback.
We will use this information to improve this page.