Food safety for horticulture producers

Standard 4.2.7 – Primary Production and Processing Standard for Berries requires businesses that grow or complete primary or ‘early-stage’ processing to identify and control food safety hazards associated with berry growing and primary processing, and to notify regulators of their activities.

• Berries are defined in the standard as fresh berries and include berries such as strawberry, blueberry and berries from the genus Rubus.
• Examples of berries included are, but not limited to, those listed and raspberry, blackberry, boysenberry, loganberry, silvanberry and youngberry.
• The standards apply to relevant businesses of all sizes.

Registration pathway 1 – berry notification

• Berry businesses are required to register and notify Agriculture Victoria of how they are complying with the standards. If a business is already in a GFSI-recognised third-party or industry food safety scheme (this includes GlobalG.A.P, FreshCare, Safe Quality Foods [SQF] and BRCGS) it must register and provide information so that Agriculture Victoria can verify the certification(s).
• Businesses need to:
  • register on Agriculture Victoria Connect
  • provide business details
  • provide a brief description of how the business is meeting the standards or provide a current recognised scheme certificate
  • pay an annual registration fee: $33 to $653 per business, scaled to production area.

Standard 4.2.8 – Primary Production and Processing Standard for Leafy Vegetables requires businesses that grow or complete primary or ‘early-stage’ processing to identify and control food safety hazards associated with growing and primary processing of leafy vegetables. It also requires relevant businesses to have an approved food safety management statement that includes notifying regulators of their activities.

Leafy vegetables have been defined in the standard as vegetables of a leafy nature where the leaf is consumed raw; and includes baby leaves, lettuce and leafy herbs; and does not include seed sprouts (requirements found in a separate standard).

• Examples of leafy vegetables include but are not limited to all lettuces, kale, baby leaf, chicory, watercress, swiss chard, Asian leafy greens, all leafy herbs consumed raw, spring onion, microgreens, spinach leaves, silverbeet and cabbage.
• Examples of vegetables that are not considered leafy vegetables include broccoli, broccolini, cauliflower, asparagus, artichoke, root and tuber vegetables, bulb vegetables, Brussels sprout, kohlrabi, cucumber, peppers, eggplant, rhubarb, squash, celery and leek.
• A person or business that sells seedlings for the purpose of growing on will be exempt from the standards. Any business that grows the seedlings into produce intended to be sold for human consumption or sells seedlings (such as microgreens) for human consumption will be required to register.
• Organic certification on its own will not be recognised. Organic producers are still required to register with Agriculture Victoria for the standards.
• The standards apply to relevant businesses of all sizes.

Registration pathway 2 – scheme recognition

• Leafy vegetable businesses in recognised schemes need to register and notify Agriculture Victoria of their certification.
• GlobalG.A.P, Freshcare, Safe Quality Foods (SQF) and BRCGS are the current recognised and GFSI-benchmarked schemes^.
• Provided certification is maintained, and available for review and verification by Agriculture Victoria, the business will be immediately recognised as meeting the relevant standard.
• Businesses need to:
  • register on Agriculture Victoria Connect
  • provide business details
  • provide current recognised scheme certificate
  • approve data sharing with scheme owners^
  • pay an annual registration and scheme recognition fee: $33 to $849 per business, scaled to production area*.

Registration pathway 3 – FSMS approval

• Leafy vegetable businesses not within recognised schemes need to complete an online food safety management statement (FSMS) and participate in an audit to verify directly if the business is compliant with the Food Standards Code.
• An online FSMS is completed as part of the registration process.
• The FSMS form includes yes/no questions, multiple-choice questions and short responses focusing on the elements of the relevant standard, such as traceability, inputs, premises and equipment management, your staff’s hygiene and food safety training, and your systems to manage unsafe product.
• You will not be required to upload any documentation at the time of registration, but having supporting documents on hand will be helpful during the process.
• The FSMS requires approval by Agriculture Victoria. Following this, you will need to implement the agreed FSMS in your business. Agriculture Victoria will verify that you are implementing your FSMS through an audit.
• We recommend growers read the Safe Horticulture Australia Guide to the Primary Production and Processing Standards for information on best practice.
• For pathway 3, businesses need to:
  • register on Agriculture Victoria Connect
  • provide business details
  • provide detailed food safety data through the online FSMS
  • be audited annually by Agriculture Victoria
  • pay an annual registration and FSMS approval fee: $33 to $1,632 per business, scaled to production area, plus time-based travel and audit fees.

^ Note: Currently only Freshcare is sharing data directly with Agriculture Victoria. If you are registering under any other recognised scheme, you will need to provide some additional information and upload a copy of your most recent audit report.

Standard 4.2.9 – Primary Production and Processing Standard for Melons requires businesses that grow or complete primary or ‘early-stage’ processing to identify and control food safety hazards associated with the growing and primary processing of melons. It also requires relevant businesses to have an approved food safety management statement that includes notifying regulators of their activities.

• Melons have been defined in the standard as fresh melons and include watermelon, rockmelon, honeydew melon and piel de sapo.
• Examples of melons included are, but not limited to, those listed and galia melon, charentais melon, Korean melon and hami melon.
• Organic certification on its own will not be recognised. Organic producers are still required to register with Agriculture Victoria for the standards.
• The standards apply to relevant businesses of all sizes.

Registration pathway 2 – scheme recognition

• Melon businesses in recognised schemes need to register and notify Agriculture Victoria of their certification.
• GlobalG.A.P, Freshcare, Safe Quality Foods (SQF) and BRCGS are the current recognised and GFSI-benchmarked schemes^.
• Provided certification is maintained, and available for review and verification by Agriculture Victoria, your business will be immediately recognised as meeting the relevant standard.
• Businesses need to:
  • register on Agriculture Victoria Connect
  • provide business details
  • provide current recognised scheme certificate
  • approve data sharing with scheme owners^
  • pay an annual registration and scheme recognition fee: $33 to $849 per business, scaled to production area*.

Registration pathway 3 – FSMS approval

• Melon businesses not in recognised schemes need to complete an online food safety management statement (FSMS) and participate in an audit to verify directly if the business is compliant with the Food Standards Code.
• An online FSMS is completed as part of the registration process.
• The FSMS form includes yes/no questions, multiple-choice questions and short responses focusing on the elements of the relevant standard, such as traceability, inputs, premises and equipment management, your staff’s hygiene and food safety training, and your systems to manage unsafe product.
• You will not be required to upload any documentation at the time of registration, but having supporting documents on hand will be helpful during the process.
• The FSMS requires approval by Agriculture Victoria. Following this, you will need to implement the agreed FSMS in your business. Agriculture Victoria will verify that you are implementing your FSMS through an audit.
• We recommend growers read the Safe Horticulture Australia Guide to the Primary Production and Processing Standards for information on best practice.
• Businesses need to:
  • register on Agriculture Victoria Connect
  • provide business details
  • provide detailed food safety data through the online FSMS
  • be audited annually by Agriculture Victoria
  • pay an annual registration and FSMS approval fee: $33 to $1,632 per business, scaled to production area, plus time-based travel and audit fees.

^ Note: Currently only Freshcare is sharing data directly with Agriculture Victoria. If you are registering under any other GFSI scheme, you will need to provide some additional information and upload a copy of your most recent audit report.

How to register

• Businesses are required to log into Agriculture Victoria Connect to complete their food safety registration.
• To register your business on Agriculture Victoria Connect, you must first register as an individual and create a user account. To do this, watch our quick video tutorials: How to create an account and then Create your profile.
• Once you have created your account, you can register your business by following the video on  How to add a business.
• Roles in Agriculture Victoria Connect provide greater control for business owners to manage their business profile, you can follow the Manage your business roles video to update your roles.
• For translated subtitles/closed captions, please use the settings button within the YouTube window for each video tutorial.

Freshcare data sharing

Freshcare is one of the schemes that has been working with Agriculture Victoria to have Freshcare certification recognised. If your business is Freshcare certified, you will need to opt in and provide consent via the FreshcareOnline portal prior to registration with Agriculture Victoria.

To do so:

• log in to your profile via FreshcareOnline
• review the terms of agreement and certification data to be shared
• if you agree, check the consent box on your profile.

Note: this arrangement is only in place for leafy vegetable, melon and berry producers in Victoria.

If you have already provided consent, there may be a delay in the data being available. Please try again later to register with Agriculture Victoria Connect.

Other GFSI-recognised schemes will be recognised by Agriculture Victoria; however, a data sharing arrangement has not been developed. Additional questions will be asked as part of the registration process.

Payment and discount

All registrations approved in 2025 and 2026 will automatically have a temporary fee discount/rebate of 50% applied at the point of registration.

On Agriculture Victoria Connect, after completing the application questions and before submitting, you will be directed to the payment screen, where you can pay by credit card. The 50% discount will have already been applied to the total shown in the summary and payment sections. The registration fee is non-refundable.

Registration validity

Registration is valid for 12 months from the approval date. As the renewal date approaches, you will be sent a reminder. Renewal with Agriculture Victoria Connect should be quicker and easier.

If your recognised scheme certification is renewed within the 12-month period, you will be required to provide Agriculture Victoria your new certification as part of your ongoing registration.

If your recognised scheme certification lapses or is not renewed, and your business ceases to be certified, then you will need to re-apply for registration with Agriculture Victoria as a non-scheme certified business.

Non-compliance

There will be a transition period before regulatory action will be taken by Agriculture Victoria, to allow time to build awareness of the requirements and for businesses to register.

It is a legal requirement to register with Agriculture Victoria and follow the standards. Enforcement activities for unregistered growers will be considered from 1 July 2025, noting the intention to work with growers before considering compliance options.

Other jurisdictions

Messaging from Food Safety Australia and New Zealand (FSANZ) is national. However, each state may vary on when and how the standards are implemented. Victorian growers are required to log into Agriculture Victoria Connect to register and provide information about how they are meeting and complying with the standards.

We recommend that businesses that operate in multiple states and territories check with each regulatory body for state-specific requirements. For more information, and to find out the appropriate state regulatory body, please visit Food Standards Australia and New Zealand (FSANZ)

Local government registration

Some farm businesses may already be registered with local government (council) if they conduct substantial transformation, wholesale, food service, retail or off-farm processing activities. Depending on a business’s activities, registration will be required with Agriculture Victoria, local government, or both (see the ‘Registration requirements’ table).

Businesses that grow or complete primary or ‘early-stage’ processing will need to register with Agriculture Victoria.

Activities further along the supply chain will require continued registration with local government.

Registration requirements

Need help with registration?

Agriculture Victoria’s Biosecurity Services Centre is available to assist businesses from Monday to Friday, 9 am to 4:30 pm. Please call 1800 403 224 and one of the team will assist you.

There are 2 detailed fact sheets available on our website:

• Food safety requirements for horticulture: melons, leafy vegetables and berries  (PDF - 1.5 MB)
• Food safety requirements for horticulture: melons, leafy vegetables and berries – accessible (WORD - 234.7 KB)

• Food safety requirements for horticulture – Food Safety Management Statement (PDF - 1.5 MB)
• Food safety requirements for horticulture – Food Safety Management Statement – accessible (WORD - 113.8 KB)

There is an annual fee to register with Agriculture Victoria depending on the pathway, and a fee for audits, where needed.

The fees are scaled to the size of the businesses production area. A business’s production area is the area of land (in hectares) under production or intended for production of the selected crop(s) for the next year.

Fees will be applied based on registration pathway:

• pathway 1 (berries): registration fee
• pathway 2 (recognised scheme vegetable and melon): registration fee + scheme recognition fee
• pathway 3 (non-recognised vegetable and melon): registration fee + food safety management statement (FSMS) approval fee (plus time-based travel + audit fees)

All producers who register in 2025 and 2026 will receive a 50% reduction in registration fees and, where applicable, statement approval or recognition fees. In addition, no audit fees will be charged until February 2027. The registration fee is non-refundable.

Producers under 1 ha will not pay fees for the approval or recognition of food safety management statements, or fees for audits and travel. These producers will still need to meet all requirements of the standards and regulations.

The table below provides the fee units and value prior to any discount or reduction that may be applied.

Registration fee units and value based on production area

These resources provide general best practice information regarding food safety in horticulture. They may be useful to consider when creating or reviewing your businesses food safety systems, particularly for business who do not currently operate under an existing industry food safety scheme.

• Food Standards Australia and New Zealand: InfoBites Fact Sheets
• Food Standards Australia and New Zealand: Safe Horticulture Australia Guide
• Fresh Produce Safety Centre: Guidelines for Fresh Produce Food Safety
• Fresh Produce Safety Centre: Food Safety Grower Guides (Multi-lingual)
• NSW Government: Fresh produce safety and traceability
• Melons Australia: Melon food safety