The project demonstrated that businesses that comply with FoodSafe Plus have work practices that will conform to the Australian Seafood Standard and thus comply with their responsibilities under the mandatory Food Safety Standards.

Although the project was to introduce a food safety program to comply with Food Safety Standard 3.2.1, the consultants identified that pre-requisite programs to cover Food Safety Standard 3.2.2 and 3.2.3 were not in place and these were therefore included as part of the project. 

The minimum number of businesses accredited to FoodSafe Plus exceeded the target in Western Australia.  At the time of writing the final report, eight businesses were accredited, or in the final stages of accreditation. Importantly, two businesses were deemed not to require a food safety plan in order to produce safe food.  Two environmental health practitioners became familiar with the seafood industry and a further two (the consultants themselves) improved their knowledge of the seafood industry. 

Although currently one of the simplest HACCP based food safety program models available, FoodSafe Plus would require considerable amendment to be a suitable model for the fishing industry sector.  The consultants experience from this project found that participants were isolated, easily confused and intimidated by the size of the manual.  They also had difficulty relating to the examples used and lacked the confidence and knowledge to modify forms for their own businesses without help.

Overall, the findings suggest that the FoodSafe Plus quality system is comparatively low cost and does enable business to meet more confidently the requirements of the FSANZ food safety standards. 

Keywords: Seafood safety, Post Harvest, FoodSafe Plus, Best practice.