The Allan Labor Government is cutting red tape and making it easier to get fresh food to Victorian families with a new food safety regulator.
Minister for Agriculture Ros Spence and Minister for Health Mary-Anne Thomas today announced the new, stronger regulator, Safe Food Victoria - designed to better protect public health and continue to give communities confidence in the safety of their food.
Victorians are now encouraged to have their say on the role of the new body, with the feedback to help shape its focus and priorities, including how they currently interact with other regulators and councils, and how the new regulator should operate.
This new independent statutory authority will report to the Minister for Agriculture and is expected to begin operation in mid-2026, subject to passage of legislation.
Food safety in Victoria is currently governed by four separate pieces of legislation and overseen by multiple regulators. Responsibility is shared across several government departments, Ministers, Dairy Food Safety Victoria, PrimeSafe and local councils, creating a complex regulatory environment.
This new body will consolidate these authorities - bringing Victoria in line with other jurisdictions and create a simpler and more streamlined regulatory system.
Specialist knowledge, skills and expertise across the existing regulators will be maintained. There will be no redundancies as a result of the reforms and staff transferring to Safe Food Victoria will do so on conditions no worse than those they are currently employed under.
This dedicated food safety regulator will harness the full strength, experience and efficiency of existing regulatory staff to deliver a higher level of service to food business in Victoria.
Current and future regulators will help businesses and community through this change, with the same level of service and focus on food safety.
Once Safe Food Victoria is established, further work will be undertaken to modernise and streamline laws, improve the tools and responsibilities to manage food safety and provide a stronger and more flexible food safety system that mitigate risks.
The consolidation of regulators is part of Victoria's Economic Growth Statement, focusing on unlocking new economic growth by cutting red tape and making it simpler to do business in Victoria.
For more information and to make a submission, visit engage.vic.gov.au/foodsafety.
As stated by Minister for Agriculture Ros Spence
"Safe Food Victoria will provide simpler processes and greater consistency for Victorian food businesses while maintaining the excellent standards and expertise from existing regulators."
"We're making it easier to get fresh food to market and improving food safety for Victorians."
As stated by Minister for Health Mary-Anne Thomas
"Safe Food Victoria will perform the important regulatory functions to effectively deliver the critical public health functions required to keep Victorians safe."
