Requirements to sell food

beermee · Post by **beermee** » Tue Jun 10, 2014 10:40 am

Hi All,

Just wondering if anyone can give me a rundown of what compliance / legal requirements there might be for packaging spices/rubs/sauces/etc and selling to the public. Just curious as to what standards (food safety, labeling, etc) need to be met, licenses/permits required and which authorities, be-it state or commonwealth, govern the supply of pre-package food items.

There's obviously a few vendors on here selling these types of items - maybe they could provide some insight into how hard (or easy) it is to comply with the necessary laws/requirements. Thanks.

Regards,
Gary

Smokey · Post by **Smokey** » Tue Jun 10, 2014 1:02 pm

I'd add insurance to the list too mate.
Hope you get it up and running.

Davo · Post by **Davo** » Tue Jun 10, 2014 1:10 pm

I think as a bare minimum Gary, you need labeling as per Australian labeling laws and the list of ingredients so that people know to avoid food allergies.

whether you actually need the protein, calorie, fats counts , i have no idea.

Whilst many consider it to be part of the nanny legislation, I'm glad it exists because I like to know what's inside the pack even though I don't have any allergies but there are certain spices i avoid such as cumin.

http://www.foodstandards.gov.au/industr ... fault.aspx

Don't know if this helps you or not.

Cheers

Davo

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Tue Jun 10, 2014 2:26 pm

Hi Gary,
Its not quite as easy as you think. We met with Australian Food Safety Standards people & hired a consultant to get all ducks in a row.

Perhaps give me a call if you want more info.

Cheers, Dave

urbangriller · Post by **urbangriller** » Tue Jun 10, 2014 8:21 pm

Talk to your local council.....you'll need a registired commercial kitchen and the rules for that are different every hundred yards!

Then Foodstandards as Davo suggests. You could just get a spice company to make it up and package it for you, they know what they are doing....save yourself the headache!

Cheers
Chris

Juls · Post by **Juls** » Wed Jun 11, 2014 9:20 am

+1
Local council will be great help and should be first contact.
The differences between Food Class 2, 3 and 4, re rules/regs are enormous.
As Chris says selling another Company's pre-packaged (low risk) foods is much easier as comes under category Class 4, which is a notification only.
Class 2 and 3 will incur big bucks (and time) to comply with registration.
Cheers
Julian

beermee · Post by **beermee** » Wed Jun 11, 2014 3:28 pm

HI all,

Thanks for the responses. Sounds like alot of mucking around that needs to be done.

I've just processed quite a few ghost chilli's - cold smoked for 8 hours and then slowly roasted over charcoal to dry out - and then ground into fine powder. End result is about 1kg of lethal smoked chilli powder. I was thinking of selling some, given that 1kg is a lifetimes supply for me and I've got more ghost chillis to harvest. But, I'm not going to go through all the compliance stuff for such a small crop/harvest - so I'm not going to sell it.

Kudos to those on here who have gone through the process.

Gary

urbangriller · Post by **urbangriller** » Wed Jun 11, 2014 5:04 pm

Talk to your council, if you are only talking a couple of Kilo every now and again, you could claim Home Producer (like baking cake for the Scout street stall).

Cheers
Chris

beermee · Post by **beermee** » Wed Jun 11, 2014 5:16 pm

Will do, thanks Chris. Mind you 'a couple kilo' of this stuff is enough to supply the whole of Australia for a year or so...!

Gary

urbangriller · Post by **urbangriller** » Wed Jun 11, 2014 8:48 pm

beermee wrote:Will do, thanks Chris. Mind you 'a couple kilo' of this stuff is enough to supply the whole of Australia for a year or so...!

Gary

And the stupid thing is even though no bacteria can live in it, you still need to jump through the idiot councils hoops!

Cheers
Chris

You could sell it to your local crack heads and clean up the neighborhood!

Ciapek · Post by **Ciapek** » Wed Jun 11, 2014 9:49 pm

Beerme, what's your price on a 100gr pack posted to Melbourne ?
Public reply or PM me mate.
Legalities don't concern me, I just want to hurt myself with some of your chilli.......lol!

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Smokey · Post by **Smokey** » Wed Jun 11, 2014 10:18 pm

I've got a secret rub that is totally not American I've been working on for years, I'd love to get a product out there but just cannot produce enough ingredient to make it worth while.
I could import or get a spice house to make it for me however, So if you want to go for it, it's possible if you have a new and different recipe.
I'm not in the industry so I suppose the rub will just get handed down through family.

beermee · Post by **beermee** » Wed Jun 11, 2014 10:26 pm

Smokey Mick wrote:I've got a secret rub that is totally not American I've been working on for years, I'd love to get a product out there but just cannot produce enough ingredient to make it worth while.
I could import or get a spice house to make it for me however, So if you want to go for it, it's possible if you have a new and different recipe.
I'm not in the industry so I suppose the rub will just get handed down through family.

I've actually got a family friend who works for a little spice company - they make their own mixes, etc. I might have a chat to him - see if they can produce something within their approvals - I guess it depends on how they operate.....

Gary

beermee · Post by **beermee** » Wed Jun 11, 2014 10:33 pm

Ciapek wrote:Beerme, what's your price on a 100gr pack posted to Melbourne ?
Public reply or PM me mate.
Legalities don't concern me, I just want to hurt myself with some of your chilli.......lol!

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Ciapek,

Pm me your address - I'll send you some - but under 2 conditions: 1) it's not to be given to an unsuspecting person (it is ridiculously hot and would be dangerous if used in the wrong manner); and 2) you post your thoughts on here (maybe even pics) regarding the heat level...!

Regards,
Gary

edgy · Post by **edgy** » Wed Jun 11, 2014 10:46 pm

Now this ghost chilli powder sounds like my kind of gig Gary!

FWIW I bought some rubs from a local supplier which had barely any info on it... Just a rough idea of some ingredients and some allergy warning...absolutely no nutritional panel at all, which I thought all packaged food needs?? Maybe there's a loophole!

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