Standard 3.3.1: food safety programs for hospitals and aged care
What the standard asks for, what goes into the program, how audits work, and the records that hold it up.
Standard 3.3.1 applies to businesses that serve food to vulnerable people, including hospitals and aged care homes. They need a written food safety program that identifies the hazards, sets the controls, says how each is monitored and corrected, and keeps records to prove it. The program is audited by an auditor approved by the state. In Victoria, hospitals and aged care homes are class 1 premises, and every class 1 program is audited.
Why the bar is higher
The people eating in hospitals and aged care homes are more likely to become seriously ill from foodborne illness, and less able to recover. A mistake that a healthy diner might shrug off can be life-threatening for an older resident or an unwell patient. That’s why these settings need a full, audited program rather than the lighter rules most restaurants follow.
The pressure also comes from more than one direction. Aged care homes answer to Aged Care Quality Standard 6, which expects a food safety program and checks that it’s followed. Hospitals that admit patients overnight answer to NSQHS Action 5.27 on food and fluid systems.
What goes into the program
Hazards
Every step from receiving to the bedside or dining room, and what could go wrong at each: temperature, cross-contamination, allergens, texture.
Controls
How each hazard is controlled, with limits: 5°C or colder, 60°C or hotter, cooling times, separation, diet checks.
Monitoring
Who checks each control, how often, and where it’s recorded.
Corrective action
What staff do when a check fails, and how it’s recorded and followed up.
Review
How often the program is reviewed, and after what events, such as a menu change, new equipment or an incident.
Records
The evidence that all of the above happened, kept and available to the auditor.
How audits work
- Who: an auditor approved by your state food regulator. In Victoria, a Department of Health approved auditor.
- How often: set by the regulator, and can change with your results. Ask your auditor or council what applies to you.
- What they check: that the program matches what the kitchen actually does, and that records show the controls were done every day, not just the week before.
- After the audit: non-conformances to close out by a set date, with evidence.
Confirm your obligations with your state food regulator. In Victoria, the Department of Health and your council.
The records an auditor looks for
| Area | Typical records |
|---|---|
| Receiving | Delivery temperatures, supplier, accepted or rejected |
| Storage | Fridge, coolroom and freezer readings |
| Cooking, cooling, reheating | Core temperatures, cooling times, reheating temperatures |
| Distribution | Hot and cold holding on trolleys, at wards or in dining rooms |
| Special diets | Diet lists checked against meals; texture and allergen checks |
| Cleaning and pest control | Cleaning sign-offs, pest contractor reports |
| People and suppliers | Training records, supervisor certificates, approved supplier list and certificates |
| Corrective actions and review | What went wrong, what was done, program reviews |
If a contract caterer runs the kitchen
Standard 3.3.1 applies to the business that processes the food. When a contract caterer runs a hospital or aged care kitchen, agree in writing who holds the food safety program, who keeps the records, and who deals with the auditor. Gaps usually appear at handover points, such as food leaving the kitchen and being served by care staff.
Records that are complete every day
EthicalHub keeps the day-to-day records behind your food safety program in one system: temperatures from receiving to service, special diet and allergen checks, cleaning, training and supplier certificates. Out-of-limit readings open a corrective action, and the auditor gets a complete record in about a minute.
See it with your kitchen’s checks
A free 20-minute walkthrough. Plans from $69 a month per site.
Standard 3.3.1: common questions
What is Standard 3.3.1?
What must a food safety program include?
Who audits a hospital or aged care food safety program?
Does Standard 3.3.1 apply to contract caterers?
Audit-ready, every day.
The records behind your food safety program, complete and easy to find.