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Food Business Notification

All retail food businesses must notify their local council before they begin to trade. Notification includes advising your council of your business name, contact details, location, owner details and information indicating the nature of your business.

Food businesses can fill in the Food business update form to notify Council of their details. You can also fill in this form to update your business details, including number of full-time equivalent (FTE) employees, for the purpose of calculating administration fees. There is an exemption for not-for profit fundraising events.

Licensed food businesses are deemed to have provided their notification details when they submit a completed application for a licence. Unlicensed, non-retail food businesses, including wholesalers and manufacturers, will need to notify the NSW Food Authority.

You can notify your business details to the NSW Food Authority in the following ways:

Via Food Notify: Fast, free of charge and provides you with an instant certificate of confirmations.
Paper Form: Paper forms can be submitted to the NSW Food Authority directly. Please be aware that all paper forms incur a charge. Contact the Food Notification Help Desk on 1300 650 124 to obtain a form.

Home Business Notifications

Home based food manufacturers need to notify either Council or NSW Food Authority depending on who the end customer is.

When a food business sells direct to the final customer (i.e. from the premises or from a market/school canteen etc), local councils will regulate these home-based businesses. It is the responsibility of the business to notify the local council of their business and food activity details. Notification is satisfied via a Food business update form.
When businesses do not retain food direct to the customer (i.e. they only sell to other businesses such as a café, supermarket or restaurant to on-sell), they need to notify the NSW Food Authority of their business and food activity details. To notify, go the Food Notify website.