Dairy food safety

All states except Western Australia have mandatory on-farm food safety programs (a voluntary program runs in Western Australia).

These programs are then applied across the whole supply chain – an approach that is now being adopted:

• internationally by Codex (Code of Hygienic Practice for Milk and Milk Products)
• nationally by Food Standards Australia New Zealand, and
• state-wide through the Dairy Food Safety Authorities (e.g. Dairy Food Safety Victoria’s Code of Practice).

Dairy food safety in practice

Dairy farms must implement a HACCP based Quality Assurance Program to ensure:

• they gain a licence to operate from their State Dairy Food Safety Authority, and
• their milk is accepted by their manufacturer.

The Quality Assurance Program covers areas such as:

• food safety
• animal welfare
• chemical contamination, and
• environmental responsibilities

Regular auditing ensures dairy farmers assess food safety risks and ensure strategies are in place to deal with the risks (includes full traceability up and down the input chain).