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.
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| Document title | Relevant text in the policy | Domain | Topic | State | Local Government name | Council type |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Family Day Care Policy Manual 2016 | • Refrigerate, at 4°C or less, all expressed breast milk and prepared infant formula in the main part of the refrigerator at the back. Expressed breast milk may also be frozen. • Warm breast milk or infant formula bottles by standing them for a few minutes in warm water. Never warm breast milk in the microwave. | Health and Wellbeing | Breastfeeding | Victoria | Moreland | Metropolitan |
| Family Day Care Policy Manual 2016 | • Use only sterilized bottles and teat assemblies to store expressed breast milk and prepared infant formula. • Wash hands before preparing or handling expressed breast milk or infant formula. | Health and Wellbeing | Breastfeeding | Victoria | Moreland | Metropolitan |
| Family Day Care Policy Manual 2016 | Discourage fruit juice and all other drinks, other than boiled water and breast milk and infant formula. | Health and Wellbeing | Breastfeeding | Victoria | Moreland | Metropolitan |
| Family Day Care Policy Manual 2016 | For an Infant • Support a mother to continue breastfeeding as long as possible. • Encourage breast milk or infant formula to be continued as the main drink until the infant is 12 months old. | Health and Wellbeing | Breastfeeding | Victoria | Moreland | Metropolitan |
| Family Day Care Policy Manual 2016 | • Make water available at all times. | Health and Wellbeing | Access to safe drinking water | Victoria | Moreland | Metropolitan |
| Family Day Care Policy Manual 2016 | • Provide cooled, boiled water if extra fluids are needed. | Health and Wellbeing | Access to safe drinking water | Victoria | Moreland | Metropolitan |
| Family Day Care Policy Manual 2016 | • Cover or cap all teats. Ensure the teats are in good condition. | Food Quality and Safety | Education on/enforce food safety regulations | Victoria | Moreland | Metropolitan |
| Family Day Care Policy Manual 2016 | • Ensuring all food and drink offered to each child in care is safe and hygienic. | Food Quality and Safety | Education on/enforce food safety regulations | Victoria | Moreland | Metropolitan |
| Family Day Care Policy Manual 2016 | 6.2 FOOD HANDLING Policy Educators will minimise the transmission of food borne illness to children and Educators by using food hygiene and safe food handling practices. Practices The FDC home must have safe, hygienic facilities for the preparation, storage, heating and cooking of food for children including sink, refrigerator, suitable waste disposal and hot water. Educators and FDC Coordination Unit staff must meet the following requirements: Personal Hygiene A high level of personal hygiene is to be observed before handling food: • Hands are to be washed. • Any cuts etc. on hands must be covered with a waterproof dressing and, ideally, disposable gloves should be worn over the dressing. • Educator must not have an illness that can be transmitted to the food they are handling. Food Preparation When preparing food the area should be suitable and free from contamination: • Fruit is to be washed (or peeled if required). • Any high risk foods need to be refrigerated until ready to serve. • Prepared baby’s milk should be kept under refrigeration until ready for use. • The refrigerator should be operating at a temperature of 4º C or below. • Any food being reheated needs to reach a core temperature of at least 60º C to destroy any bacteria which may be present. Storage of Food Educators are to ask parents to transport high risk foods from home to FDC in an insulated cooler. Lunch boxes with high risk fillings must be placed in the refrigerator upon arrival. Lunch boxes must be stored in the centre of the refrigerator. | Food Quality and Safety | Education on/enforce food safety regulations | Victoria | Moreland | Metropolitan |
| Family Day Care Policy Manual 2016 | All food provided to children must be cooked and stored appropriately. • Do not store, or prepare, raw and cooked food together. • Ensure pets are always kept away from food and food preparation areas. • Install areas to avoid insects contaminating food. Every stove, microwave or cooking appliance must be out of reach of children, made inoperable for a young child or be inaccessible by placing appropriate barriers. insect screens on all windows and doors to the food preparation and storage | Food Quality and Safety | Education on/enforce food safety regulations | Victoria | Moreland | Metropolitan |
| Family Day Care Policy Manual 2016 | Baby bottles must be stored in the centre back of the refrigerator. When shopping for food, high risk foods should be transported home as soon as possible. Food must not be left in a hot car. When transporting food, keep it separate from contaminants for example, car polish, pets, toxic chemicals. Serving of Food Food needs to be served with minimal handling. When allowing children to serve food, tongs should be provided for them. Each child requires their own plate, bowl, cup and cutlery. If using plastic dishes, they should be free of scratches or cuts. they should be free of cracks or chips. Any food utensils dropped on the floor, or handled by another child must be washed before continuing use. Tables must be wiped prior to serving food. Children are to wash their hands with soap and water, and rinse and dry their hands well before sitting down to eat. To prevent choking, and to model appropriate social skills, all children need to be seated whilst eating any food. | Food Quality and Safety | Education on/enforce food safety regulations | Victoria | Moreland | Metropolitan |
| Family Day Care Policy Manual 2016 | Baby’s Bottles Parents must: • Ensure that any baby’s bottles are made up with formula that is not beyond the expiry date. • Follow the manufacturer’s instructions when making up the formula milk. • Label the time and date that Expressed Breast Milk (EBM) is bottled. • Ensure that the EBM is not more than 3 days old when given to the Educator. • Make enough small bottles to last the day, as Educators will not give leftover milk to the baby. • Supply prepared bottles to meet their child’s needs. • Supply an additional bottle in case of an emergency. • Inform the Educator when the last bottle was given and when the next bottle is due. • Clearly label bottles and hand to the Educator for storage in the back of the refrigerator. | Food Quality and Safety | Education on/enforce food safety regulations | Victoria | Moreland | Metropolitan |
| Family Day Care Policy Manual 2016 | Bird cages are to be kept at a reasonable distance from food preparation areas and out of reach of children. | Food Quality and Safety | Education on/enforce food safety regulations | Victoria | Moreland | Metropolitan |
| Family Day Care Policy Manual 2016 | Cleaning Up All dishes and utensils are to be washed in hot soapy water and dried well. These items should be stored in a manner to prevent them from becoming contaminated from dust, mice, ants, etc. Tea towels are to be washed daily, and stored appropriately. Tables must be wiped down after meal times. Kitchen preparation surfaces should be cleaned with an appropriate sanitising solution. In addition, Educators must: • Have a designated area for food preparation and storage, which is safe and hygienic. • Store cooked and uncooked meat in separate refrigeration compartments. | Food Quality and Safety | Education on/enforce food safety regulations | Victoria | Moreland | Metropolitan |
| Family Day Care Policy Manual 2016 | Educators must ensure food areas and children’s play and sleep areas are free from animals and animal hair. | Food Quality and Safety | Education on/enforce food safety regulations | Victoria | Moreland | Metropolitan |
| Family Day Care Policy Manual 2016 | Educators must: • Ensure that bottled formula milk is always labelled with the child’s name, mother’s name, and, for Expressed Breast Milk (EBM) the time and date it has been expressed. • Only store breast milk in the refrigerator for a maximum of 48 hours, or in a deep freezer for a maximum of 3 months. • Thaw frozen breast milk in either cool or warm water. Shake the bottle if the fats and milk have separated. • Test the temperature of the milk on the wrist before giving it to the baby. • Discard any unused breast milk. • Rinse bottles and teats thoroughly after use. | Food Quality and Safety | Education on/enforce food safety regulations | Victoria | Moreland | Metropolitan |
| Family Day Care Policy Manual 2016 | For all children • Supervise children while they are eating and discourage direct sharing of food between children. Use tongs when serving food. Encourage a child to be calm and seated while eating and drinking. • Encourage each child to wash their hands before eating or handling food. Reduce the risk of choking by avoiding food that can break off into hard pieces or food that is hard and spherical. • Ensure each child’s food and drink is stored in containers that are easily identifiable by the Educator and to the child. • Keep all food preparation areas and kitchen utensils clean. Keep a regular cleaning routine for all food preparation areas. • Wash hands before preparing and handling any food. | Food Quality and Safety | Education on/enforce food safety regulations | Victoria | Moreland | Metropolitan |
| Family Day Care Policy Manual 2016 | Hand Washing Educators and FDC Coordination Unit staff must wash their hands: • After toileting – personally, and individual children. • After nappy-changing individual children. • Before preparing food. • Before eating and drinking. • After wiping noses – personally, and individual children. • After contact with body fluids of individual children. | Food Quality and Safety | Education on/enforce food safety regulations | Victoria | Moreland | Metropolitan |
| Family Day Care Policy Manual 2016 | Safe food handling and preparation preventing cross contamination of the allergens. – Safe food consumption and serving of food preventing cross contamination of the allergens. | Food Quality and Safety | Education on/enforce food safety regulations | Victoria | Moreland | Metropolitan |
| Family Day Care Policy Manual 2016 | Safe food practices around children sharing food, keeping at risk children closely supervised during mealtimes and limiting food activities to ingredients that are not on the at risk list for the child. | Food Quality and Safety | Education on/enforce food safety regulations | Victoria | Moreland | Metropolitan |
| Family Day Care Policy Manual 2016 | Strategy 2: Ensure all food and drink offered to a child in care is safe and hygienic For an infant • Avoid bottle feeding an infant while they are lying down. • Use only sterilized bottles and teat assemblies to store expressed breast milk and prepared infant formula. • Wash hands before preparing or handling expressed breast milk or infant formula. • Prepare infant formula strictly according to instructions on the container. • Refrigerate, at 4°C or less, all expressed breast milk and prepared infant formula in the main part of the refrigerator at the back. Expressed breast milk may also be frozen. • Warm breast milk or infant formula bottles by standing them for a few minutes in warm water. Never warm breast milk in the microwave. • Warm milk bottles only once. Never rewarm or re-refrigerate bottles that have already been warmed once. Throw out all leftovers if a child has not finished the bottle within 20 to 30 minutes. • Provide information on suitable ways to safely transport bottles of breast milk or infant formula to a parent on request. • Encourage a parent to provide breast milk or infant formula in more containers of smaller volumes to minimise wastage (eg. 120 ml bottles). | Food Quality and Safety | Education on/enforce food safety regulations | Victoria | Moreland | Metropolitan |
| Family Day Care Policy Manual 2016 | Supporting further nutrition and food safety training and learning opportunities for all Educators and staff. | Food Quality and Safety | Education on/enforce food safety regulations | Victoria | Moreland | Metropolitan |
| Family Day Care Policy Manual 2016 | The FDC home must have safe, hygienic facilities for the preparation, storage, heating and cooking of food for children including a sink, refrigerator, suitable waste disposal and hot water | Food Quality and Safety | Education on/enforce food safety regulations | Victoria | Moreland | Metropolitan |
| Family Day Care Policy Manual 2016 | The nappy change area must be separate from food preparation and serving areas. | Food Quality and Safety | Education on/enforce food safety regulations | Victoria | Moreland | Metropolitan |
| Family Day Care Policy Manual 2016 | Use microwaves safely. All heated food or drink should be tested before being given to children to ensure it is at a safe temperature for the child to consume. Every stove, microwave or cooking appliance must be out of reach of children, made inoperable by a young child or be inaccessible by placing appropriate barriers. | Food Quality and Safety | Education on/enforce food safety regulations | Victoria | Moreland | Metropolitan |
| Family Day Care Policy Manual 2016 | Use separate colour coded chopping boards for cooked, uncooked and Halal foods. If using one board it must be washed in hot, soapy water between uses. • Use infection control and safe food handling practices at all times during the hours of providing FDC. • Store cleaning agents away from foods and out of the reach of children. • Do not leave food out to cool for more than one hour. • Defrost frozen food in the refrigerator. • Do not refreeze thawed food. | Food Quality and Safety | Education on/enforce food safety regulations | Victoria | Moreland | Metropolitan |
| Family, Youth and Children (FYC) Strategy 2014 – 2019 guides | Where possible, meals and drinks will reflect a variety of cultural backgrounds, including those of the local community, where: o Multicultural differences will be recognised and accepted; o Food awareness activities will be chosen from a variety of cultures; and o Special occasions may be celebrated with culturally appropriate foods. | Health and Wellbeing | Traditional food cultures | Victoria | Port Phillip | Metropolitan |
| Family, Youth and Children (FYC) Strategy 2014 – 2019 guides | 20.9 Breastfeeding and milk formula The service encourages and supports breastfeeding by: Providing a comfortable area for mothers to relax and breastfeed Developing a system between breastfeeding mothers and educators so they can be contacted according to the infants’ feeding schedule Making breastfeeding literature available Storing breast milk in the refrigerator for no more than 48hrs or in the freezer for no longer than 3 months Labelling breast milk with the child’s name and date expressed before storing Warming breast milk just prior to feeding Warming only the amount needed | Health and Wellbeing | Breastfeeding | Victoria | Port Phillip | Metropolitan |
| Family, Youth and Children (FYC) Strategy 2014 – 2019 guides | Ensure drinking water is available and accessible at all times to educators and children. | Health and Wellbeing | Access to safe drinking water | Victoria | Port Phillip | Metropolitan |
| Family, Youth and Children (FYC) Strategy 2014 – 2019 guides | The drinking of water is actively encouraged and provided at regular and frequent intervals and on demand especially in hot weather. | Health and Wellbeing | Access to safe drinking water | Victoria | Port Phillip | Metropolitan |