Bußgelder und Betriebsschließung wegen Verstößen gegen Kühlketten-Temperaturvorgaben

Definition

Australian food businesses must comply with Food Standards Code Standard 3.2.2, which requires potentially hazardous food to be received, stored, displayed and transported at 5°C or colder, or 60°C or hotter, to keep it safe.[8] The Australian Cold Chain Guidelines extend this with specific NEVER WARMER THAN limits (+5°C for chilled, −18°C for frozen) and explicit requirements for managing and recording compliance with cold chain temperature and time conditions.[4] Coolpac notes that non‑compliance with these temperature requirements can lead to unfavourable health inspections, significant penalties, and, in serious cases, immediate administrative closure of the establishment, with fines reaching tens of thousands of dollars.[1] When wholesalers rely on manual temperature checks on paper or ad‑hoc loggers, excursions may go unnoticed or records may be incomplete, leaving them unable to prove compliance when Environmental Health Officers request logs.[1][5] Any detected breach or unverified period often requires the destruction of exposed stock to protect public health, creating a direct loss equal to the inventory value plus any associated recall and disposal costs. For a medium wholesale cold store, a single container or room of stock (e.g. AUD 50,000–150,000 worth of meat or frozen products) can be written off after a temperature breach; in addition, state food authorities can impose fines in the tens of thousands and temporarily close the affected facility, stopping revenue for days or weeks.[1][4] This is a direct, recurring money bleed whenever temperature logging and alerting are not automated and verifiable.

Why This Matters

The Pitch: Wholesale food and beverage players in Australia 🇦🇺 waste AUD 20,000–100,000+ per incident on discarded stock and penalties when cold‑chain temperatures or records fail. Automation of continuous temperature logging, alerts and reporting eliminates this compliance risk.

Affected Stakeholders

Warehouse manager, Quality assurance manager, Food safety officer, Logistics and transport manager, Operations director, Business owner / director

Related Business Risks