Welcome to the Australian Local Food System Policy Database. This is a collection of policies from New South Wales (NSW) and Victorian local governments that relate to healthy, sustainable, and equitable food systems.
For further information about using the database and how it was created see How to use the database. You can search the database by using the fields below. Domain refers to eight broad categories under which various topics are situated. The domains and topics are based on a framework of recommendations for local government action on creating a healthy, sustainable, and equitable food system (also located on the ‘How to use the database’ page linked above).
To cite the database: Reeve B, Carrad A, Rose N, Charlton K & Aguirre-Bielschowsky I (2021) Australian Local Food System Policy Database. Available at: https://law-food-systems.sydney.edu.au/policy-database (access date).
Suggested search terms
Hold Ctrl to select multiple terms. Using ‘any words’ functions as an “OR” search. Using ‘all words’ functions as and “AND” search.
Search Criteria:
| Document title | Relevant text in the policy | Domain | Topic | State | Local Government name | Council type |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cabonne 2025: Community Strategic Plan | 5.1 5.2 All villages have a secure and quality water supply. | Health and Wellbeing | Access to safe drinking water | NSW | Cabonne | Regional |
| Cabonne 2025: Community Strategic Plan | • State and Australian Governments • Landcare groups • Educational institutions • Farmers group • Landholders • Research organisations •LCMA | Sustainability and Environment | Sustainable local food production | NSW | Cabonne | Regional |
| Cabonne 2025: Community Strategic Plan | 5.4 Primary producers use best practice methods and systems that respect the environment. | Sustainability and Environment | Sustainable local food production | NSW | Cabonne | Regional |
| Cabonne 2025: Community Strategic Plan | • State and Australian Governments •RMS • Agricultural producers | Sustainability and Environment | Strengthen food chain connections/distribution | NSW | Cabonne | Regional |
| Cabonne 2025: Community Strategic Plan | 1.4 Transport infrastructure meets agricultural needs to get goods to and from market. | Sustainability and Environment | Strengthen food chain connections/distribution | NSW | Cabonne | Regional |
| Cabonne 2025: Community Strategic Plan | • Agricultural sales | Economic Development | Local food producers | NSW | Cabonne | Regional |
| Cabonne Blayney Family Day Care Policies and Procedures | It is the responsibility of the family to: Communicate current dietary requirements of their children and notify their Educator immediately of any changes. Provide nutritious and appropriate food/drinks if supplying meals for the child. Notify the Educator if any special dietary requirements are required and provide a written management plan to Educator for any allergies (e.g. diabetes, anaphylaxis, etc.). Keep lunchboxes and drink bottles clean and hygienic. Handl | Health and Wellbeing | Healthy/sustainable LG food procurement policies | NSW | Cabonne | Regional |
| Cabonne Blayney Family Day Care Policies and Procedures | Hold a Food Handling Certificate if they are providing food to children as part of their service. If food is provided as part of the business a menu must be developed and displayed (Clause 80); If supplying meals, develop and display a suitable menu outlining what children will be eating in the service. Handle and store food as per the recommendation of Guideline: Food Handling and Storage. | Health and Wellbeing | Healthy/sustainable LG food procurement policies | NSW | Cabonne | Regional |
| Cabonne Blayney Family Day Care Policies and Procedures | Understand the eating habits and nutritional needs of each child; Encourage and support children to develop independence in eating; Facilitate meal times that are positive, relaxed and social; Respect the requests of families relating to dietary, religious or cultural beliefs; Ensure water is readily available (both indoors and outdoors) for children to consume throughout the day; Be aware of children with food allergies, food intolerances and special dietary requirements and consult with families to develop individual management plans; Ensure young children do not have access to foods that may cause choking. Ensure all children remain seated while eating and drinking; Always supervise children while eating and drinking; Promote good oral health through learning experiences and daily ‘swish and swallow’ practice. | Health and Wellbeing | Healthy/sustainable LG food procurement policies | NSW | Cabonne | Regional |
| Cabonne Blayney Family Day Care Policies and Procedures | Dental Health Information for Babies and Young Children Avoid the use of: Bottles containing sweetened milk, fruit juices, cordials or soft drinks Pacifiers dipped in sweet substances (e.g. honey, jam) Bottles as pacifiers or using a bottle containing anything other than water to help a child fall asleep | Health and Wellbeing | Healthy/sustainable LG food procurement policies | NSW | Cabonne | Regional |
| Cabonne Blayney Family Day Care Policies and Procedures | Educators will: Record on enrolment the name, address and phone number of each child's dentist if applicable and have a contact number for an after-hours emergency dentist or dental clinic at the service. Encourage families to provide healthy foods for their children whilst in care. Avoid the use of: sweetened milk, fruit juices, cordials or soft drinks for the children in care sugary snacks or lollies pacifiers dipped in sweet substances Nursing bottles containing anything other than water to help a child fall asleep. Offer water to drink in preference to fruit juice or soft drink. Encourage milk drinks at meal times to help reduce caries. 51 Encourage healthy snacks such as vegetables, cheese, yoghurt, fruit or plain pasta (Educators should be aware of and avoid foods that are choking hazards to young children). Encourage cheese as a meal or snack or at least after one meal as this reduces the harmful effects of acid on the teeth. For children who are old enough encourage them to rinse their mouth with water after each meal or to brush their teeth. Report any sign of dental health problems to families e.g. swelling gums, problems with chewing, accidents or injury to teeth or gums. | Health and Wellbeing | Healthy/sustainable LG food procurement policies | NSW | Cabonne | Regional |
| Cabonne Blayney Family Day Care Policies and Procedures | Food, Nutrition and Dietary Requirements RATIONALE: To ensure all children in care with Cabonne/Blayney Family Day Care are offered a nutritious and appropriate diet that has been stored and prepared in a safe and hygienic manner. POLICY STATEMENT Family Day Care recognises the early years of a child’s life are a critical period for their healthy development and growth. During this time, both physical and intellectual development is largely dependent upon adequate nutritional intake. Eating is also a source of enjoyment and it is important that Educators and staff do not become so concerned about nutrition and manners that they lose sight of children's enjoyment of food. Many of the eating habits and attitudes to food developed in childhood continue throughout life. RELEVANT LEGISLATION Education and Care Services National Law 2010. Education and Care Services National Regulations 2011 Clause (77, 78, 79, 80). KEY RESOURCES National Quality Standards 2018 (ACECQA) – Quality Area 2. Guide to the National Quality Framework 2018 (ACECQA). Current Childcare Service Handbook (CCMS) (Australian Government). NSW Food Authority under the Food Act 2003 No 43. Caring for Children Food, Nutrition and Fun Activities. Dietary Guidelines for Children and Adolescents in Australia (National Health and Medical Research Council). The Healthy Eating and Physical activity guidelines for Early Childhood (Get up and Grow resources 2009). NSW Department of Health – Munch and Move. | Health and Wellbeing | Healthy/sustainable LG food procurement policies | NSW | Cabonne | Regional |
| Cabonne Blayney Family Day Care Policies and Procedures | Collect and record relevant information about individual special dietary requirements of children (i.e. allergies, cultural, etc.) if required. | Health and Wellbeing | Healthy/sustainable LG food procurement policies | NSW | Cabonne | Regional |
| Cabonne Blayney Family Day Care Policies and Procedures | Educators will: Record on enrolment the name, address and phone number of each child's dentist if applicable and have a contact number for an after-hours emergency dentist or dental clinic at the service. Encourage families to provide healthy foods for their children whilst in care. Avoid the use of: sweetened milk, fruit juices, cordials or soft drinks for the children in care sugary snacks or lollies pacifiers dipped in sweet substances Nursing bottles containing anything other than water to help a child fall asleep. Offer water to drink in preference to fruit juice or soft drink. Encourage milk drinks at meal times to help reduce caries. 51 Encourage healthy snacks such as vegetables, cheese, yoghurt, fruit or plain pasta (Educators should be aware of and avoid foods that are choking hazards to young children). Encourage cheese as a meal or snack or at least after one meal as this reduces the harmful effects of acid on the teeth. For children who are old enough encourage them to rinse their mouth with water after each meal or to brush their teeth. Report any sign of dental health problems to families e.g. swelling gums, problems with chewing, accidents or injury to teeth or gums. Have information available for parents about healthy teeth or a list of useful contacts to provide to families. Families will be encouraged to: Provide Healthy food for their child in care. Promote good dental health practices with their child. | Health and Wellbeing | Education/events on food system issues | NSW | Cabonne | Regional |
| Cabonne Blayney Family Day Care Policies and Procedures | Offer information on the benefits of breastfeeding to all families enrolled at the service. Display easily accessible brochures, pamphlets and other resources about breastfeeding. Maintain current printed or electronic lactation resources available to families and staff. Display culturally appropriate pictures and posters of breastfeeding and exclude those supplied by formula manufacturers. Include fathers in the discussions about breastfeeding. Stimulate participatory learning experiences with the children related to breastfeeding and offer children’s books that contain pictures of breastfeeding, play dolls that are nursing and other learning experiences that normalise breastfeeding. | Health and Wellbeing | Education/events on food system issues | NSW | Cabonne | Regional |
| Cabonne Blayney Family Day Care Policies and Procedures | PROCEDURES The Coordination Unit will: Provide information and resources to Educators and families on nutrition, food preparation and storage. Encourage families to provide adequate and nutritious meals for their children in care. Provide advice and support to Educators and families on matters relating to food and nutrition. Encourage and support all Educators and staff to attend relevant conferences and forums. Include nutrition professional development and a food safety component into new Educators induction. Provide nutrition and food safety professional development on a regular basis; | Health and Wellbeing | Education/events on food system issues | NSW | Cabonne | Regional |
| Cabonne Blayney Family Day Care Policies and Procedures | Provide information to children and families that outline good nutrition practices; | Health and Wellbeing | Education/events on food system issues | NSW | Cabonne | Regional |
| Cabonne Blayney Family Day Care Policies and Procedures | Regularly provide Educators and families with nutrition guidelines based on the service Nutrition Policy. | Health and Wellbeing | Education/events on food system issues | NSW | Cabonne | Regional |
| Cabonne Blayney Family Day Care Policies and Procedures | Where possible aim to purchase a worm farm or composting bin to reduce food waste in the education and care service. Children will be encouraged to place food scraps into separate containers for use in the worm farm or the composting bin. Educators will discuss with the children and families which scraps worms can eat and which foods can be composted. The children will be involved in maintaining the worm farm and compost. | Health and Wellbeing | Education/events on food system issues | NSW | Cabonne | Regional |
| Cabonne Blayney Family Day Care Policies and Procedures | Respect the requests of families relating to dietary, religious or cultural beliefs; | Health and Wellbeing | Traditional food cultures | NSW | Cabonne | Regional |
| Cabonne Blayney Family Day Care Policies and Procedures | Collect and record relevant information about individual special dietary requirements of children (i.e. allergies, cultural, etc.) if required. | Health and Wellbeing | Traditional food cultures | NSW | Cabonne | Regional |
| Cabonne Blayney Family Day Care Policies and Procedures | Develop a documented individual breastfeeding support plan in consultation with family members for breastfed infants. Offer information on the benefits of breastfeeding to all families enrolled at the service. Display easily accessible brochures, pamphlets and other resources about breastfeeding. Maintain current printed or electronic lactation resources available to families and staff. Display culturally appropriate pictures and posters of breastfeeding and exclude those supplied by formula manufacturers. Include fathers in the discussions about breastfeeding. Stimulate participatory learning experiences with the children related to breastfeeding and offer children’s books that contain pictures of breastfeeding, play dolls that are nursing and other learning experiences that normalise breastfeeding. Establish and maintain connections with local breastfeeding support networks, including NSW Health and the Australian Breastfeeding Association. | Health and Wellbeing | Breastfeeding | NSW | Cabonne | Regional |
| Cabonne Blayney Family Day Care Policies and Procedures | Provide mothers with a private, clean and quiet place to breastfeed their infants or express breastmilk. The place will include an electrical outlet, comfortable chair, a change table and nearby access to hand washing facilities. Provide refrigerator space for breastfeeding mothers to store their expressed breastmilk. Educate staff and families that a mother may breastfeed her infant wherever they have a legal right to. | Health and Wellbeing | Breastfeeding | NSW | Cabonne | Regional |
| Cabonne Blayney Family Day Care Policies and Procedures | Ensure water is readily available (both indoors and outdoors) for children to consume throughout the day; | Health and Wellbeing | Access to safe drinking water | NSW | Cabonne | Regional |
| Cabonne Blayney Family Day Care Policies and Procedures | Offer water to drink in preference to fruit juice or soft drink. | Health and Wellbeing | Access to safe drinking water | NSW | Cabonne | Regional |
| Cabonne Blayney Family Day Care Policies and Procedures | Where possible aim to purchase a worm farm or composting bin to reduce food waste in the education and care service. Children will be encouraged to place food scraps into separate containers for use in the worm farm or the composting bin. Educators will discuss with the children and families which scraps worms can eat and which foods can be composted. The children will be involved in maintaining the worm farm and compost. | Sustainability and Environment | Food production on LG land | NSW | Cabonne | Regional |
| Cabonne Blayney Family Day Care Policies and Procedures | Where possible aim to purchase a worm farm or composting bin to reduce food waste in the education and care service. Children will be encouraged to place food scraps into separate containers for use in the worm farm or the composting bin. Educators will discuss with the children and families which scraps worms can eat and which foods can be composted. The children will be involved in maintaining the worm farm and compost. | Sustainability and Environment | Home and community gardening | NSW | Cabonne | Regional |
| Cabonne Blayney Family Day Care Policies and Procedures | Where possible aim to purchase a worm farm or composting bin to reduce food waste in the education and care service. Children will be encouraged to place food scraps into separate containers for use in the worm farm or the composting bin. Educators will discuss with the children and families which scraps worms can eat and which foods can be composted. The children will be involved in maintaining the worm farm and compost. | Food Waste | Food losses and food waste | NSW | Cabonne | Regional |
| Cabonne Blayney Family Day Care Policies and Procedures | Handle and store food as per the recommendation of Guideline: Food Handling and Storage. | Food Quality and Safety | Education on/enforce food safety regulations | NSW | Cabonne | Regional |
| Cabonne Blayney Family Day Care Policies and Procedures | Handling, Preparing and Storing Food Safe Practices for the handling, preparing and storing of food is accordingly listed below. These practices will assist Educators in minimising the risks to children being educated and cared for by the Service. Handle food safely Store food safely Maintain good personal hygiene Maintain good cleaning practices 77 PRACTICES Handle food safely Always keep raw and cooked food separate. Use separate utensils for raw and cooked food. Wash raw fruit and vegetables to remove soil and bacteria. Use separate chopping boards and wash in warm soapy water. Use plastic or glass rather than wood chopping boards. Thaw frozen food in the refrigerator or microwave and cook thawed food immediately. Heat food until steaming hot (to 75⁰C). Check for ‘hot spots’ in microwaved food. Only reheat food once. Children must not handle hot food. Cooked food should be cooled prior to serving to children. The temperature of the food is such that any spills will not burn a child's skin. Store food safely Regularly check that your refrigerator is 5⁰c or lower. Cover and seal perishable food and store in the refrigerator. Store infant milk bottles in the back of the refrigerator, not in the door. Store raw food separately. Food brought from home Store children’s lunch boxes in the refrigerator, an esky or cooler bag. Dairy and meat products are particularly important. If food needs to be warmed, reheat it quickly until steaming, then allow to cool until it is safe for the child to eat without scalding. Reheat food only once and throw out any left-overs. Transporting food When transporting food to playgroup, outings and excursions, Educators should ensure that perishables, particularly dairy and meat products are kept cool. Esky or cooler bags with freezer blocks and/or frozen drinks can keep food fresh. Frozen sandwiches are also usually defrosted and fresh by lunch time. Breast milk and formula Breast milk can be frozen for two weeks in the freezer section of a refrigerator or 2/3 months in a freezer with a separate door. Prepared infant formula can be stored and used for 24 hours. Use defrosted breast milk with 24 hours. Throw out any milk left over after each feed. Do not return it to the refrigerator or leave at room temperature. Warming milk in the microwave is not recommended because ‘Hot Spots’ form in the milk. Provide mothers with a private, clean and quiet place to breastfeed their infants or express breastmilk. The place will include an electrical outlet, comfortable chair, a change table and nearby access to hand washing facilities. Provide refrigerator space for breastfeeding mothers to store their expressed breastmilk. Educate staff and families that a mother may breastfeed her infant wherever they have a legal right to. 78 Develop a documented individual breastfeeding support plan in consultation with family members for breastfed infants. Offer information on the benefits of breastfeeding to all families enrolled at the service. Display easily accessible brochures, pamphlets and other resources about breastfeeding. Maintain current printed or electronic lactation resources available to families and staff. Display culturally appropriate pictures and posters of breastfeeding and exclude those supplied by formula manufacturers. Include fathers in the discussions about breastfeeding. Stimulate participatory learning experiences with the children related to breastfeeding and offer children’s books that contain pictures of breastfeeding, play dolls that are nursing and other learning experiences that normalise breastfeeding. Establish and maintain connections with local breastfeeding support networks, including NSW Health and the Australian Breastfeeding Association. The expressed breastmilk will be stored at 4°C or lower until it is required. The educator will confirm the child’s name and date of expression on the container, and the amount to be prepared, with another educator. This should be noted on the infant’s record. To limit wastage where expressed breastmilk is provided in a container larger than a single serving, the bottle is initially filled with less milk than may be necessary for the feeding, with additional milk available to add to the bottle if needed. In the event that an infant is fed another infant’s bottle of expressed breastmilk, treat the incident as an accidental exposure to a bodily fluid. An incident report will be completed and both affected families informed. The expressed breastmilk will be warmed and/or thawed by running the container under warm water or by standing the container in warm water. Never reheat expressed breastmilk in a microwave. An educator will test the temperature of the expressed breastmilk by placing a few drops on the inside of their wrist before the expressed breastmilk is given to the infant. Discard the contents of any bottle not fully consumed in one hour from the start of the feed. | Food Quality and Safety | Education on/enforce food safety regulations | NSW | Cabonne | Regional |