Chair’s Report
This annual report covers the 12 month reporting year from 1 July 2024 to 30 June 2025 and any further significant events leading up to this Annual General Meeting in October 2025.
Australian Food Safety Week continues to be our key annual activity during 2024 and its theme of ‘Look before you cook – read food labels’ being highly successful with our community service announcements generating over a million dollars’ worth of radio and TV airtime during the Summer campaign. We were requested to focus on this theme by our state and territory members following a food safety incident that linked foodborne disease cases with incorrectly cooking crumbed products in air fryers.
Our rapid response in getting this successful campaign up and running, plus its low cost, shows our value in reducing the rates of food borne illness in Australia that are now estimated to be $3 billion a year. We are delighted that the campaign is a finalist in the 2025 Gold Standard Awards open to Public Affairs and Communication professionals in the Asia Pacific and Middle East.
We have also been running award winning annual campaigns since 2017 to educate consumers not to pick or eat wild mushrooms because of the risk of deathcap mushroom poisoning. This year we used the interest around the mushroom murder trial to reinforce the message. We approached the Victorian Government as the Coroner requested they fund an education campaign after a 98-year-old Victorian woman died after picking and eating a deathcap mushroom from her own garden. While supportive of our work they did not provide funding.
The Council continues to provide expert advice through the Australian Science Media Centre on a range of issues including food safety during natural disasters and the spinach recall in addition to our scheduled media releases throughout the year and National Science Week activities. See more about our campaigns in Objective 2.
There remains sufficient equity (see objective 3) for the Council to continue operations, while efforts have continued throughout the year to secure ongoing and long-term funding. Without this, we are heavily reliant on our volunteers.
I would like to thank the Board, our various Committee members, and all our members for the time and commitment they give to our organisation in helping Australians keep food safe. In particular I would like to thank Dr Trish Desmarchelier who has stepped down from the Scientific Committee after many years, we have greatly appreciated Trish’s scientific advice. Also, special thanks to our Gold Sponsor Neogen and our other member sponsors: Accord, SA Health, NT Health and the Australian Chicken Meat Federation for funding our consumer research and campaigns.
Dr Scott Crerar
Chair
Food Safety Information Council Ltd
2 October 2025
Objective 1 Conduct a successful Australian Food Safety Week and Summer campaign as well other relevant campaigns throughout the year
While all Board members contribute to this objective, the Communication Committee provides strategic and day to day expertise.
The Committee Chair is Lydia Buchtmann FCPRA and members during the year were:
- Carolyn Wray MCPRA – Strategic Communication Manager Community Broadcasting Foundation
- Sarah Macartney MCPRA- Director Communication Domain Group
- Jason Van Ballegooyen – Section Manager, Communication and Stakeholder Engagement, Food Standards Australia New Zealand
- Narelle Bickford – Chef and nutritionist
- Samantha Dickinson – National Communications Officer, Environmental Health Australia
Australian Food Safety Week 9 to 16 November 2024
The theme of Australian Food Safety Week 9 to 16 November 2024 was ‘Look before you cook – reading food labels’ and focused on following the food safety instructions on packaged foods labels such as use by or best before dates as well as cooking and storage instructions.
You can see the full evaluation of Australian Food Safety Week and the Summer Campaign at Evaluation AFSW 2025 and here are some of the highlights:
Theme: Look before you cook – read food safety instructions on labels such as cooking and storage instructions plus use by and best before dates
The campaign focused on reducing overall foodborne disease but also but also addresses sporadic cases linked to the use of air fryers especially crumbed products such as schnitzels and parmigiana that may look cooked on the outside but aren’t on the inside.
Our consumer research showed a reasonably high rate of compliance with these instructions even if people don’t always read them. For example with those responding ‘always or most of the time’:
- 86% read use by dates and 88% comply with them,
- 83% read best before dates and 83% comply,
- 66% read storage instructions and 83% comply and
- 69% read cooking instructions and 74% comply.
Considerable improvement since we last asked these questions in 2013
- 19% increase in reading cooking instructions
- 17% increase in complying with them.
Air fryers are becoming very popular with our recent research showing
- 2 in 3 Australians surveyed have an air fryer in their household
- 54% of those using it weekly
- 38% several times a week
- Our research shows that 44% of air fryer owners find these instructions most of the time on crumbed, packaged food
- 44% only find air fryer cooking instructions occasionally on crumbed food.
- It would be highly beneficial if manufacturers listed air fryer cooking instructions on more packaged products
Our media releases were issued through Science Media Centre to 1500 engaged news outlets with177 media items generated, news outsets (print and online) audience 1,344, 030 and a radio and TV audience of 325,036
Our TV and radio community service announcements were broadcast on 312 radio stations across 264 markets.
44,840 Radio CSAs broadcast nationally with $761,800 estimated minimum airtime value of the Radio CSAs
TV CSA broadcast nationally on 7, SBS and regional networks $306,000 estimated minimum media value of the TV CSA $11,000 (incl. GST) invested by Food Safety Information Council generated $1,067,800 worth of radio and TV airtime generated by Media Heads which was more than a 97:1 return on investment
Website and social media
Our website www.foodsafety.asn.au is a key tool for our work and receives close to 1,000 visits a day. This year we have continued to review and improve its security and made its design more consumer friendly. In addition to the free Google ads we receive as a charity we have improved our organic search engine capacity to make it easier for Australians to find out information.
Objective 2: Ensure our work is based on scientific evidence, including identifying and dealing with emerging risks
While all of the Board members typically contribute to this Objective, the Scientific Committee (SC) is primarily responsible for meeting it. The SC now typically meets outside of Board meetings to draft, refine and discuss the scientific merit and veracity of press releases and other information for public consumption. The Committee deliberations are shared with the Chair of the Communications Committee, and releases usually finalised at that point, though the Board, or selected executive members may be consulted. The SC brings a diversity of expertise and experience to bear on this Objective:
- Dr Julian Cox, Associate Professor, UNSW Sydney (Chair/Scientific Director)
- Dr Patricia Desmarchelier
- Karen Ferres, A/Executive Director, Health Protection & Licensing Services, SA Health
- Zoe Bartlett, Senior Microbiologist, Food Safety and Microbiology, FSANZ
- Brigitte Cox, retired (ex-CSIRO)
- Dr Sheri Cooper, Dietitians Australia
- Professor Shokoofeh Shamsi, Charles Sturt University
Alongside merit and veracity of releases, the committee makes ongoing effort to ensure currency, updating material on existing topics while seeking to expand coverage of food safety issues, including emerging risks. Examples include risk associated with backyard eggs, greater awareness around parasites, especially associated with seafood, the growing tension between maintenance of food safety and reduction in food waste, and the impact of climate change. Through communication among SC members, with the Board, and with the professional networks of members, as well as digital horizon scanning, FSIC keeps abreast of current food safety issues, and looks to creation of new consumer-facing information, for the FSIC web site and for new media releases.
The Committee is also looking to review and revise all of the Council’s published material, including the web site, especially those sections that have featured less frequently in recent media releases and fact sheets.
Finally, the Committee is exploring the development of local recipes that integrate food safety messaging, aligned with an initiative from a similar US-based organisation. More broadly, the Committee and Council is looking to leverage scientific and technical content from related organisations globally, to bring a greater range of resources to the public.
Objective 3: Secure sufficient funding for operational and educational activities and comply with our reporting and tax requirements
Doug Lau CA, our Finance and Risk Director, plus the rest of the Food Safety Information Council Board, are responsible for managing this objective.
The Board met 7 times during 2024/25 and consists of:
- Dr Scott Crerar, Chair (6/7 meetings)
- Assoc Professor Julian Cox, Vice Chair and Chair of the Scientific Committee (4/7 meetings)
- Fiona Fleming Director (7/7 meetings)
- Dean McCullum Director (6/7 meetings)
- Dr Andrew Mathieson, Director (7/7 meetings)
- Professor Shokoofeh Shamsi Director (6/7 meetings)
- Doug Lau Director Risk and Finance Committee (6/7 meetings)
- Dr Sheri Cooper, Director (6/7 meetings)
- Carolyn Wray (3/7 meetings)
Chief Executive Officer Lydia Buchtmann attended 7/7 meetings as a non-voting member.
Our Annual General Meeting was held in October 2024 and our Annual Planning Day, to plan for the year ahead and to choose the theme for Australian Food Safety Week 2024, was held on 17 July 2024. Both were by video conference.
Objective 4 Increase the number of and engage with our membership.
Membership is the responsibility of all Board members and the CEO.
We currently have 44 members (down from 45 the previous year having updated our current members’ list). Members continue to be highly engaged in our work either contributing time or sponsoring our campaigns.
Members as at 1 July 2025 are:
Professional organisations: Australian Institute of Food Science and Technology, Dietitians Association of Australia, Environmental Health Australia
Consumer organisations: Choice
Companies: First for Training, Gourmet Guardian, Merieux Nutrisciences, Neogen and On Solution.
Individuals: Narelle Bickford, Julian Cox, Scott Crerar, Maria Deckys, Doug Lau, Roy Palmer, Shokoofeh Shamsi, Carolyn Wray and Sarah Macartney
Industry organisations: Accord Australasia, Australian Eggs, Australian Chicken Meat Federation Incorporated.
Government: ACT Department of Health & Community Care, Department of Health Western Australia, Department of Health Tasmania, Food Standards Australia New Zealand, New South Wales Food Authority, Northern Territory Department of Health & Community Services, Queensland Health, Safe Food Queensland, South Australia Department of Health
Life members (for long term contribution): Lydia Buchtmann (former Communications Director), Brigitte Cox, Patricia Desmarchelier (former Technical Committee Chair), Michael Eyles (former Chair), Cathy Moir (Chair), Barbara Munce (former Public Officer), Rachelle Williams AnYi (former Chair)
Local Government: Goyder Council, Surf Coast Shire Council and City of Wodonga Council.
Research organisations: CSIRO, Australian Food Safety Centre of Excellence
It is of concern that our membership contributions have reduced over the last 2 financial years. This funding is essential to cover our essential administrative costs such as phones, insurance, administration and website. We do recognise however that many members contribute time to our cause which is far above the value of their annual membership and that members continue to be the greatest source of our sponsorship.
Financials
