Restaurants, cafes & pubs restricted to takeaway and/or home delivery

01 March 2020

We understand this is a difficult time for all food businesses that are now restricted to takeaway and/or home deliveries due to Coronavirus (COVID-19). We are working hard to support our food businesses at this time to provide clear guidance and information and will endeavour to keep you updated as the situation changes.

If you have closed your food business temporarily or moved to takeaway and/or home deliveries, please contact the City's Environmental Health team via email on environmentalhealth@stirling.wa.gov.au to advise of changes to your operation. 

If you are considering home deliveries, potentially hazardous food must be kept under conditions that minimise the growth of pathogenic microorganisms during transport. Such as:

  • Transporting cold potentially hazardous food in refrigerated vehicles, ice bricks, or insulated containers.
  • Transporting potentially hazardous food that needs to be kept hot in insulated bags.

The following are a list of things you need to consider before making the change:

  1. How am I going to maintain temperature control of my food?
  2. What distances can I travel without compromising the temperature & safety of my food?
  3. How will I protect my food from contamination?
  4. Do I have the equipment and food grade packaging to deliver food safely?

For more information on transporting food, click on the following link Food Standards Code Transporting Food.

Novel Coronavirus and Food Safety

Coronaviruses are a family of viruses that usually cause respiratory illness. Food businesses should continue to practice good hygiene as required in the food safety standards, including:

  • Cleaning and sanitising, particularly all food contact surfaces
  • Thorough and frequent handwashing 
  • Taking all practicable measures to prevent food contamination by food handlers.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has issued precautionary recommendations including advice on good hygiene practices during food handling and preparation, they include:

  • Washing hands between handling raw and cooked foods
  • Thorough cooking and proper handling of meat products
  • Covering your mouth and nose when coughing and sneezing 
  • Avoiding close contact with anyone showing symptoms of respiratory illness, such as coughing and sneezing.

As an added precaution, if you have suspected symptoms of respiratory illness you should avoid preparing food for other people and seek medical attention.

Click here to read more.

Clean hands protect against infection

Protect yourself, your food business and your customers by doing the following:

  • Clean your hands regularly
  • Wash your hands with soap and water, and dry them thoroughly
  • Use alcohol-based hand rub if you don’t have immediate access to soap and water and
  • Ensure hand washing facilities are accessible, operating properly with warm water, supplied with soap and disposable hand towels.

Click here to see how to wash your hands properly.

Environmental cleaning for workplaces

Routine cleaning of frequently touched surfaces using appropriate detergent/disinfectant solutions or wipes is effective at minimising the risk of COVID-19 transmission.

It is recommended that the frequency of cleaning in all areas be increased. This is especially important in high traffic areas and areas accessed by the public.

Please click here to view information on cleaning for general workplaces (non-healthcare settings) during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak:

Do you have questions?

The WA Health department have developed an FAQ sheet to help answer some of your questions. Click here to view.

For the most up-to-date advice please visit:

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