New food safety regulator for Victoria

Victorian Minister for Agriculture Ros Spence and Minister for Health Mary-Anne Thomas have announced Safe Food Victoria — a new regulator designed to better protect public health and to give communities further 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 interaction 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.

“Safe Food Victoria will provide simpler processes and greater consistency for Victorian food businesses while maintaining the excellent standards and expertise from existing regulators,” Spence said. “We’re making it easier to get fresh food to market and improving food safety for Victorians.”

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.

This new body will consolidate these authorities, bringing Victoria in line with other jurisdictions and creating a more streamlined regulatory system. Specialist knowledge, skills and expertise across the existing regulators will be maintained.

“Safe Food Victoria will perform the important regulatory functions to effectively deliver the critical public health functions required to keep Victorians safe,” Thomas said.

Current and future regulators will help businesses and community through this change, with the same level of service and focus on food safety.

For more information about the new regulator, visit the website.

Image credit: iStock.com/sorbetto