As of December 2022, food safety training is mandated at a national level under Food Standard 3.2.2A.
This standard states that every business that serves food needs one or more fully qualified Food Safety Supervisors, and that all Food Handlers must be trained to a certain standard.
New South Wales has additional Food Safety Supervisor training requirements to this. When completing Food Safety Supervisor training in New South Wales, you must do so with a provider approved by the NSW Food Authority - such as InstaCert.
As each state and territory in Australia has different requirements for Responsible Service of Alcohol training and refresher training, here are some useful links to find out more about the legislation in your area:
Food Standard 3.2.2A became law in December 2022. It outlines the need for a food safety management system within a business, by introducing the following three tools:
If you prepare and serve food in your business, you must comply with Food Standard 3.2.2A. All food safety courses delivered by InstaCert meet the requirements of the standard.
During the registration process, you will have the option to pay by credit card or PayPal. InstaCert accepts payment by Visa, MasterCard and American Express.
All the prices on our website are in Australian Dollars (AUD).
Nationally accredited courses in Australia are GST exclusive, so GST is not included on our tax invoices for these products.
As soon as your payment goes through, you will receive three emails:
When you enrol in the course, you will need to provide us with your name, a valid email address, contact address and a few other contact details.
Later on, we will request further personal details, including:
The information above is required by law in order to comply with the Standards for Registered Training Organisations 2015.
All information provided is kept private and secure. Please see our Privacy Policy for more information.
Our policies and procedures on complaints and appeals are designed to establish a fair and equitable procedure for dealing with student complaints and appeals.
If you are studying with InstaCert, you must complete a Complaint or Appeal Form (as appropriate) which can be found on the forms page.
You will receive written acknowledgement of your complaint and where possible, a resolution will be sought.
When you start your course, you will be asked to supply your Unique Student Identifier (USI). If you don't already have a USI you'll be asked to create one.
The USI system is a Government initiative launched on January 1, 2015, making it compulsory for all students participating in nationally recognised training to have this unique reference ID.
The reference ID is 10 characters long and is comprised of numbers and letters. You can apply for a USI here. Once you have a USI, this unique number is assigned to you permanently.
One of the benefits of having this USI is that you can easily access details of any nationally recognised training that you have completed by looking it up on the USI website. This means that if you lose your Statement of Attainment, can't remember the units that formed your qualification or don't know the name of the Registered Training Organisation (RTO) that issued your qualification it doesn't matter, as all of this information is stored in one central location.
If you are exempt from requiring a USI, then the results of your training will not be accessible through the Commonwealth and will not appear on any authenticated transcript prepared by the Registrar.
Please note that your USI is different from the student ID that you were provided by InstaCert when you enrolled into the course.
Applying for a Unique Student Identifier (USI) is simple and free of charge.
Have a form of ID ready to complete your application. This could be any of the following:
Begin by visiting the USI website. You'll then need to supply some personal information including your name, date of birth, place of birth, gender and country in which you intend to study. Then you will be asked to answer a few security questions to keep your login secure.
Once you have completed the online form, you will be issued with a USI that can be used to access your account and check training details at any time.
All forms can be found on our forms page:
For most students, the online course component of the Food Safety Supervisor Course takes between 6 and 8 hours to complete, and the online course components of our other courses take between 3 and 4 hours. This includes online lessons, multiple-choice quizzes and case studies. The Observer Report or Video Assessment can take a couple of hours more. It's not unusual for students to enrol and complete the course on the same day.
However, everyone learns at a different pace and you don't have to do the entire course all in one go. You can do as little or as much as you'd like in any one session, and log on and log off as many times as you like. You'll have up to 12 months to complete the course.
InstaCert's Food Safety Supervisor course (Level 1 & Level 2) covers all food industry sectors. You will receive a Statement of Attainment for one or more of the following industries:
Simply select the appropriate industry/industries when prompted.
You should verify the following to determine if you still need to complete the training:
National recognition is offered to course participants who have already completed one or more of the required units of competency through previous formal education or training.
Students who wish to apply for national recognition will be required to submit a certified true copy of their Statement of Attainment or qualification.
The following guidelines also apply:
To learn more about national recognition, or to find out how to apply, please contact us.
Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) is available to course participants who believe they already meet the skills and knowledge requirements of the course through previous work experience, or through formal, non-formal and informal learning.
To assess whether a course participant has sufficient experience, we request that applicants complete the online quiz components of their chosen course, and to provide documentary evidence of when and where their skills were acquired. We provide an RPL form to participants to assist them in gathering the necessary evidence.
To learn more about RPL, or to find out how to apply, please contact us for more information.
Please click here to download the InstaCert Student Handbook.
This Student Handbook is designed to provide you with all of the information that you need to make an informed choice, and as a reference guide throughout your training and assessment.
If you require further information or have any questions about the content of this handbook please contact us.
For the Food Safety Supervisor Course, you are required to take the following assessments:
For the Food Handler Course, you are required to take the following assessments:
For the Responsible Service of Alcohol Course, the assessments are as follows:
At the end of each lesson, you're required to complete a multiple choice quiz before moving on to the next lesson. You have five attempts at each quiz and must score 100% to unlock the next lesson.
If you use up all five attempts without scoring 100%, simply get in touch with us and let us know your name, student ID and which course and lesson you were working on. A member of our support team will help you move on to the next part of the course, free of charge.
It's mandatory for you to be observed demonstrating practical skills as part of your assessment.
The course content delivered is determined by the Industry Skills Councils. They also have rules about how training organisations need to assess students who are training to be a Food Safety Supervisor, Food Handler or a Responsible Server of Alcohol.
One of these requirements is that students must be observed practising practical skills. This is something we are not able to evaluate you on through a computer.
The easiest way to meet this requirement is to provide an online student assessment form, the Observer Report, so that someone in your workplace (past or present) can verify that they've seen you do these practical tasks, like washing your hands correctly and wearing appropriate clothing for work.
This removes any roadblocks that would prevent you from earning your Statement of Attainment.
Your Observer Report can be completed by anyone who works in the food or alcohol service industry and has observed you working with food or providing alcohol service (depending on your chosen course) over a period of time. It could be someone you work with now, someone you've worked with in the past or even someone from a church or community organisation where you have volunteered your time.
The person you choose to sign off on the report does not need to be a Food Safety Supervisor or a certified Responsible Server or Alcohol.
Don't worry, many of our students begin their training before starting work in the food or hospitality industry, or they may be between jobs or looking to move to another company.
If you've worked in another food or alcohol service business in the last 12 months, you could ask a former coworker to complete your assessment form, if it's likely they've seen you perform the food safety or alcohol service tasks (depending on your chosen course) listed on the Observer Report form.
You could also volunteer to work a few shifts with a charity, community organisation or other food or hospitality business. Many places are happy to have volunteers help out in return for observing you do the tasks listed on the Observer Report.
If you're still not sure how to complete the Observer Report when you're not working, contact us and we can discuss some of the options you have in your local area.
As part of the legal requirements for delivering the Responsible Service of Alcohol (RSA) course, we need to see you perform some practical tasks.
To do this, we give you the choice between completing a Video Assessment or an Observer Report.
If you're new to the industry, you should complete the Video Assessments. This involves interacting with some pre-recorded videos using your mobile, tablet or desktop - any device with a webcam and microphone.
If you've been working in the industry for some time and have a supervisor or manager who has observed you serving alcohol within the last 12 months, you may wish to choose the Observer Report option. This means an online form will be emailed to your chosen observer to provide more information on the tasks they've seen you do.
1. A modern web browser
You need to have a modern web browser and ensure that you have Javascript enabled. We recommend using Google Chrome for the best course experience.
2. An email address
During course registration, we will ask you for your email address. This is a mandatory requirement for you to be able to access our systems. Email addresses cannot be shared by students.
3. Adobe PDF Reader or Adobe Acrobat
Some of the forms that you need to complete (such as the Observer Report) are in PDF format. To get the latest version of Adobe PDF Reader for free, click here.
4. Mobile, tablet or desktop with webcam and microphone (RSA only)
If you are completing Responsible Service of Alcohol (RSA) training and chose to complete the Video Assessment, then you must have access to a mobile, tablet or desktop device with a working webcam and microphone
InstaCert courses work on most computers, laptops and tablet devices. Due to the small screen size, we don't recommend using the course on mobile phones.
We recommend using the Google Chrome web browser for the best course experience.
If you've forgotten your password, simply go to the login page. Enter your InstaCert User ID and then click on the 'Forgot your password?' link. You will receive an email inviting you to reset your password.
If you've forgotten your User ID, be sure to check the emails we sent you from when you first enrolled. If you still can't find it, send us a message — be sure to include your full name and the name of the course you’re enrolled in. We'll get back to you with your User ID as soon as possible.
First, see if you can resolve the issue by trying any (or all) of the following suggestions:
If you are still having issues and you can't find the answer in our FAQ section, please contact us and we’ll be happy to help.
The Statement of Attainment you receive is recognised in all states and territories of Australia, and meets all requirements under Food Standard 3.2.2A.
The Statement of Attainment will contain details of the units of competency attained, the date on which it was awarded and information about the Registered Training Organisation (RTO) issuing the document.
If you intend to work as a Food Safety Supervisor in New South Wales, you will also need a Food Safety Supervisor certificate from the NSW Food Authority. InstaCert is an approved provider of these NSW certificates and you can select this as an option when you enrol in the Food Safety Supervisor course. There is a small fee associated with issuing this certificate on behalf of the NSW Food Authority.
The Statement of Attainment you receive is recognised in all states and territories of Australia. The InstaCert Food Handler training course meets all requirements of Food Standard 3.2.2A.
The Statement of Attainment will contain details of the units of competency attained, the date on which it was awarded and information about the Registered Training Organisation (RTO) issuing the document.
InstaCert is currently approved to deliver Responsible Service of Alcohol (RSA) training in Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory. More states are coming soon, so watch this space!
The units of competency shown on your Statement of Attainment depend on which industry or industries you choose during the selection process. The Food Safety Supervisor course is available for the following industries:
Retail:
SIRRFSA001 - Handle food safely in a retail environment
(Supersedes old unit SIRRFSA001A - Apply Retail Food Safety Practices)
Hospitality:
SITXFSA005 - Use hygienic practices for food safety
SITXFSA006 - Participate in safe food handling practices
(Supersedes old units: HLTFS207C - Follow basic food safety practice, HLTFS309C - Oversee the day-to-day implementation of food safety in the workplace, HLTFS310C - Apply and monitor food safety requirements)
Health & Community:
HLTFSE001 - Follow basic food safety practices
HLTFSE005 - Apply and monitor food safety requirements
HLTFSE007 - Oversee the day-to-day implementation of food safety in the workplace
(Supersedes old units: HLTFS207C - Follow basic food safety practice, HLTFS309C - Oversee the day-to-day implementation of food safety in the workplace, HLTFS310C - Apply and monitor food safety requirements)
Food Processing:
FBPFSY1002 - Follow work procedures to maintain food safety
FBPFSY2002 - Apply food safety procedures
(These units supersede old units - FBPFSY1001 Follow work procedures to maintain food safety, FBPFSY2001 Implement the food safety program and procedures)
Transport & Distribution:
SITXFSA005 - Use hygienic practices for food safety
SITXFSA006 - Participate in safe food handling practices
Please note that if you are in New South Wales, only the Retail and Hospitality units are recognised by the NSW Food Authority
Upon successful completion of your Food Handler training you will be awarded unit of competency SITXFSA005 - Use hygienic practices for food safety.
This is the most up-to-date unit of competency and supersedes SITXFSA001 - Use hygienic practices for food safety.
Upon successful completion of your Responsible Service of Alcohol (RSA) training you will be awarded unit of competency SITHFAB021 - Provide responsible service of alcohol.
This is the most up-to-date unit of competency and supersedes SITHFAB002 - Provide responsible service of alcohol.
Nationally recognised training is sometimes referred to as accredited training. It refers to vocational training that has been developed based on the National Training Package for the given industry and is considered "training by industry for industry".
When you complete an accredited course, you receive a Statement of Attainment listing the units of competency you’ve obtained. These units of competency are recognised across Australia and can be used towards further qualifications — such as Certificate III in Commercial Cookery — or skill sets, such as Food Safety Supervisor recognition.
Non-accredited training is not recognised within the Vocational Education & Training (VET) framework. This isn’t necessarily a reflection on the quality of the course - in fact, many industries develop their own training requirements outside of the VET framework.
Your Statement of Attainment will be issued by InstaCert Registered Training Organisation (RTO number 41127).
Visit the training.gov.au website to learn more.
Although there isn't an expiry date on the Statement of Attainment, Food Standard 3.2.2A requires Food Safety Supervisors to have attained certification within the last 5 years.
Therefore if the issue date on your Statement of Attainment is more than 5 years ago, you need to redo the training.
Currently there is no expiry date on Food Handler training; however, you should always check that the units of competency on your Statement of Attainment have not been superseded with more recent versions.
To view the latest units, go to the 'Units of Competency' section on the course page.
Alcohol sellers and servers working in the Australian Capital Territory, Victoria or the Northern Territory must complete refresher training every 3 years. Those working in New South Wales must complete refresher training every 5 years.
There is no expiry period for RSA certification in other states or territories.
Yes, you definitely can! If you're considering doing another qualification, talk to the Registered Training Organisation (RTO) with whom you're doing the course and let them know about your food safety training with InstaCert.
Many vocational training courses require the same units that you will attain from InstaCert courses, so there's a good chance you won't need to retake the course again and you can get your qualification faster.
To find out which qualifications your units of competency can be used as credit towards, visit the training.gov.au website, search for the codes listed on your Statement of Attainment and view the list of qualifications that include that unit of competency.
No, it is not possible to issue a Statement of Attainment to a business. The Statement of Attainment is issued to the person who completed the course.
When a qualified Food Safety Supervisor moves to a new place of work, their qualification goes with them.
If you operate a food business and your Food Safety Supervisor leaves, you will need to nominate another Food Safety Supervisor and let your local council know.