As Election Day BBQs are being cleaned and fired up around the country, the Food Safety Information Council today released food safety tips for your democracy sausage or cake fundraiser.

Council Chair, Dr Scott Crerar, said that Election Day fundraisers are a great way to raise money for your school or other community organisation, but at the same time you need to make sure that it doesn’t become a food poisoning risk

‘Local rules for non-profit fundraisers can vary slightly depending on the State or Territory where you live, but generally these tips cover what you need to do to ensure food is safe.Think carefully about who will be involved in the event, and all of the ingredients and tools you will need to ensure a food-safe event, based on the tips that follow as a guide:

1. Appoint an event supervisor to make sure your volunteers are trained in and following food safety rules. Also try to have a separate person taking the orders and money so your cooks can concentrate on handling and preparing the food safely, and avoid cross-contamination.
2. Wash hands. Ensure hand washing facilities with soap are available. Always wash your hands with soap and running water and dry thoroughly on a single use paper towel before handling food and especially after handling raw meat or poultry, going to the toilet, touching your face or hair, blowing your nose, leaving the food stall or shaking hands. If there aren’t handwashing facilities, make sure an alcohol-based hand sanitiser is available and used.
3. Wear clean clothing and a clean apron and change them if they become badly soiled. Food preparers shouldn’t wipe their hands on their aprons as this can become a source of cross-contamination – use single-use paper towels to dry hands. Wash/sanitise hands frequently.
4. Never handle food for others if you are feeling unwell.
5. Keep it cool when transporting food, try to minimise the time/distance between refrigerated storage, and make sure the food is covered and in a cool place in your vehicle, such as in the airconditioned vehicle rather than the boot or, ideally, in a container with ice or cooler bricks. The aim is to keep perishable foods (items that need cooking before eating, or fresh salad vegetables that will be eaten without further cooking) under 5°C until you are ready to cook or serve it. Keep uncooked meat and salad vegetables separate, or in enclosed, separate containers.
6. Use a probe meat thermometer to check that the meats, such as sausages, hamburger patties, or poultry, are cooked to at least 75°C in the thickest part of the meat. Cook these foods as close as possible to the time of sale. Steak can be cooked to taste. Clean your thermometer between uses with a sanitiser wipe.
7. Separate. Don’t put cooked meat or poultry back into the same container used for raw meat or poultry, and don’t use the same utensils, such as tongs, for raw and cooked foods.Prepare and serve ready-to-eat products, such as bread, salad items and cakes on a clean surface (that has not been in contact with raw meat or poultry) and separate from raw meat to avoid cross-contamination.
8. Keep it clean. Wash any equipment such as chopping boards and knives in hot soapy water and dry thoroughly before using again. Ideally, use separate boards for raw and risky foods, and ready-to-eat foods (such as bread, or salad vegetables). When drying, tea towels can get contaminated quickly so you might use paper towel.

‘If you run a cake stall don’t include riskier ingredients such as fresh cream or raw or partially cooked eggs. Make sure cakes are covered to protect them from insects and people coughing or sneezing on them. While you don’t have to include an ingredient list of allergens on the product, keep a list of allergens (such as milk, eggs, peanuts and tree nuts, gluten and wheat, soy, sesame and lupin) for each product displayed at your stall so you can tell a customer if asked. Label the cake with the name of its maker so that, on the rare occasion something does go wrong, the food can be traced.

‘You may need to register your fundraising event with your local Council, so contact their environmental health officer and get more food safety advice,’ Dr Crerar concluded.

For more information see:

Local Council food enforcement contacts

Food Standards Australia New Zealand Fundraising events

NSW Food Authority Charity events

Queensland Health Fundraising events

Victoria Department of Health Sausage sizzles

ACT Department of Health Fundraising stalls

SA Health Charity and Community Groups

Media contact:

Lydia Buchtmann, Food Safety Information Council, 0407 626 688 or info@foodsafety.asn.au