11 December 2024

New Food Safety Requirements Now in Effect in NSW

As of 8 December 2024, early childhood education and care (ECEC) services, including family day care educators who prepare and provide food to children, must comply with updated food safety requirements.

Why have these changes been implemented?

The new requirements, introduced following changes to the Australia and New Zealand Food Standards Code (the Code), aim to improve food safety standards by enhancing the skills and knowledge of those handling food.

Who Must Comply?

These requirements apply to all ECEC services in NSW that prepare and serve unpackaged, potentially hazardous, ready-to-eat food to children. Note that ‘potentially hazardous’ foods are defined as those requiring temperature control for safety, such as dairy products, cut fruits and vegetables, cooked meats, eggs, and cooked rice or pasta. Non-hazardous foods such as whole fruits, crackers, and plain cakes are exempt.

Exemption from the requirements include situations where food is:

• Supplied by parents
• Served in its original packaging
• Used in occasional educational cooking activities
• Part of fundraising events.

Key Compliance Tools

1. Food Handling Training: Family day care educators who prepare and/or serve food must have adequate food safety skills and knowledge, including understanding food contamination, cleaning, sanitising, and personal hygiene. The NSW Food Authority offers a free Food Handler Basics course to help educators meet these requirements.
2. Appoint a Food Safety Supervisor: If family day care educators prepare and handle unpackaged, potentially hazardous, ready to eat food, a Food Safety Supervisor (FSS) must be appointed. The FSS oversees safe food practices including temperature control for high risk foods like meats, dairy, eggs, seafood and cooked rice. This certification, obtained from a registered training organisation, is valid for five years. In family day care settings, this role will likely suit an educator who prepares and serves meals.
3. Notification to Local Council: Family day care educators providing food must notify their local council, which may involve registering as a food business and completing a notification form, depending on council requirements. Local councils, in partnership with the NSW Food Authority, will conduct regular inspections to ensure compliance. Check with your local council to confirm specific requirements for notification and inspections.
4. Demonstrating Safe Food Practices: Services handling high-risk foods, particularly those requiring specific temperature controls, must demonstrate safe food handling practices. Compliance can be shown through detailed record-keeping or by consistently following safe practices. The NSW Food Authority provides free record keeping templates and guidelines to support compliance.

Resources for Family Day Care Educators and Services

To assist educators and services to comply with these new requirements, the NSW Food Authority has several free resources:

• Food safety requirements handbook for children’s services in NSW
• Food safety management tools quiz
• Frequently asked questions
• Factsheets and posters

For more information, visit the NSW Food Authority’s website. For questions, contact their helpline on 1300 552 406 or email food.contact@dpi.nsw.gov.au for further support.

Safe Arrival of Children: Are you conducting regular risk assessments?

From 1 October 2023, new legislative requirements came into effect relating to the safe arrival of children travelling between family day care services to any other education or early childhood service.

Failing to conduct regular risk assessments or maintain updated safe arrival policies is a common breach under Regulation 102AAC: Risk Assessments for the Safe Arrival of Children.

While approved providers are responsible for ensuring risk assessments are conducted, educators also play a crucial role in identifying and addressing travel related risks for children. Risk assessments must be conducted at least once every 12 months and whenever a new risk arises such as changes in travel arrangement or property addresses, to ensure policies and procedures remain effective and up to date.

Key points to remember:

• Ensure risk assessments consider each child’s individual needs, including their age, developmental stage or individual needs of the child.
• Collaborate on communication procedures with parents, educators and service providers to ensure clear arrangements are provided between departing and receiving services.  
• Have a plan for emergency scenarios, such as when a child is missing or unaccounted for, or when new hazards arise (e.g. inclement weather or unsafe transport routes).
• Maintain detailed records of all risk assessments and update safe arrival policies and procedures as needed to reflect changing risks or environments.

Educators must work closely with their service to ensure safe arrival policies are consistently followed and updated as needed, particularly when new risks related to children’s travel arrangements are identified.

Handy resources for FDC services and educators:

• ACECQA Information Sheet – Safe Arrival of Children
• ACECQA Policy and Procedure Guidelines - Safe Arrival of Children
• Risk Assessment and Management Tool

FDCA 2025 National Conference – Call for Abstracts

Would you like to share your insights and expertise at the FDCA 2025 National Conference? If the answer is yes, don’t miss your chance to submit an abstract!

Renowned as the premier event for family day care professionals, the FDCA 2025 National Conference will provide FDCA members with the unique opportunity to stand shoulder to shoulder with some of Australia’s leading minds in early childhood education and care, and share their knowledge, experience and insights.

Regardless of whether this is your first time attending the FDCA National Conference or you’re a conference regular, we invite you to submit an abstract to present.

If selected to present at the conference, you will become part of a stellar line-up that already includes internationally acclaimed New Zealand neuroscience educator Nathan Wallis, Dual Olympian and MD Dr Jana Pittman and National Children’s Commissioner Anne Hollonds.

The deadline for abstracts is 31 January 2025.

For more information and instructions on how to submit your abstracts, click here.

National Quality Framework Annual Performance Report

The Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA) recently released its eighth Annual Performance Report on the National Quality Framework (NQF). The report highlights that, as at 30 June 2024, 90% of children’s education and care services that have been assessed are rated Meeting National Quality Standard (NQS) or above.

For the first time, more than three-quarters (76%) of family day care services are rated Meeting NQS or above, up from half (50%) six years ago.  

The Report focuses on a number of aspects of the NQF, including:

• Children’s health and safety
• Educational program and practice
• Children from vulnerable and disadvantaged backgrounds
• Workforce, and
• Service provider perceptions of the NQF.

It highlights continuous quality improvement across all seven quality areas of the NQS. To download the full report visit the ACECQA website.

FDCA Holiday Closure Information

The FDCA office will close at 5.00pm AEDT on Tuesday 24 December 2024 and reopen at 9.00am AEDT on Thursday 2 January 2025.

Should your family day care insurance require renewal during this period or if you need to purchase a new family day care insurance policy, please visit our website. If you need to make an emergency claim details of how to do this are located here.

Otherwise please call our office on Thursday 2 January 2025. We wish all our members a safe and relaxing holiday season!

FREE FDCA 2025 Wall Planner - Download yours now

FDCA’s 2025 Wall Planner is now available for download! 

The planner captures important dates including school and public holidays, key events and celebrations.

Two sizes of the Wall Planner are available to download:

• A large A1 landscape sized version which displays all 12 months of the year (this version is best printed using a professional printer or through a retailer such as Officeworks); and
• A smaller A4 portrait version which displays one month per page (this can be printed at home or at the office).

Download your FREE Wall Planner via the links above or log in to your FDCA Member Zone and click on the Resources and Factsheets subheading.