A volunteer is a person who gives their time freely to help others. These special people are essential in our society. Community groups simply would be unable to function without them.
In aged care centres as an example of a food business, they hold a key role and assist the staff with feeding and supporting residents.
A food business is any business or group that provides food as part, or all, of the service it provides. Any person who is involved in some way in handling food in a food business is called a food handler. This does not just mean paid staff, it includes the volunteers who serve food, feed residents and clean up after meals.
The Food Standards Code requires that all food handlers must have the food safety skills and knowledge to do their job. Therefore, it is not only the paid staff who must be trained in food safety, but the volunteers as well.
Volunteers may not be cooking the food but they regularly serve and feed others and support paid staff. These are a precious resource in those food businesses that have volunteers. They need to be given the right training to ensure that they also have the required skills and knowledge.
This need to have the required knowledge and skill does not just apply to food safety but workplace health & safety and other requirements as well. They need to be included in the business’s Training Matrix and records kept to show that this training has been completed.