HROUS Food Safety Experts describes services for Victorian start-ups and small-to-medium businesses, while Food Safety Plus names Perth and regional WA and reports national delivery.[1][2] FoodSure offers onsite and remote services across a broad client range, while Food Safety Co focuses on WA regulatory auditing, aged care and childcare.[3][4][6]
Start with the business’s Standard 3.2.2A category
FSANZ says Standard 3.2.2A applies to covered Australian food-service, catering and retail activities involving unpackaged, potentially hazardous, ready-to-eat food. Classification depends on the food-handling activity; it does not mean every food business needs all tools or a paid consultant.[7]
- Category one: Implement a food safety supervisor, food-handler training and substantiation of critical food safety controls, called the evidence tool.[7]
- Category two: Have a food safety supervisor and trained food handlers.[7]
For category one, substantiation means keeping records or otherwise demonstrating to an authorised officer how the prescribed controls are met. Consultant-produced templates need to become working records for the actual operation.[7]
Confirm the classification and local requirements with the relevant regulator or council before requesting quotes. FSANZ distinguishes these tools from the other requirements in Standards 3.2.2 and 3.2.3.[7] A HACCP document, voluntary certification and a consultant’s internal audit are different deliverables; specify the obligation or standard each assignment addresses.
How to read this comparison
Each provider is compared in the same order: service scope, geographic or sector fit, and stated consultant qualifications.
Most evidence comes from consultants’ websites or provider descriptions in the AIFST NSW Consultants Register. Capabilities, experience and outcomes are therefore vendor-reported unless stated otherwise.[1][2][3][4] The register does not explain its admission, vetting, currency or endorsement criteria; inclusion is not evidence of regulatory approval.[3]
Four Australian food safety consultants compared
Food Safety Experts
Scope: HACCP plans and reviews, council-registration support, compliance documentation, audits and audit preparation, staff training, labelling and packaging compliance, product development and formulation, traceability systems and mock recalls.[1]
Geographic or sector fit: Melbourne and Victoria, particularly start-ups and small-to-medium cafés, restaurants, butchers, caterers, distributors, warehouses and other food retailers.[1]
Stated qualifications: The provider identifies its consultant as Larisa Ulianitsky, who holds an MSc in Food Science & Technology from RMIT and is a Professional Member of AIFST. It attributes more than 15 years of relevant industry experience to her.[1]
Food Safety Plus
Scope: HACCP and food-safety programs, internal audits, gap analysis, audit preparation, labelling and allergen declarations, nutritional panels, supplier approval, risk assessment, verification and validation, corrective-action support, training and ongoing advice.[2]
Geographic or sector fit: Named areas include Perth Metro, Joondalup, Midland, Rockingham, Mandurah, Kalgoorlie and regional WA, with reported service across all Australian states and territories. Sectors include manufacturing, food service, childcare, aged care, hospitals, institutional and mine-site catering, dairy, transport and logistics.[2]
Stated qualifications: Food Safety Plus says its consultants are qualified food technologists and reports more than 30 years of experience and work with over 500 organisations.[2]
FoodSure
Scope: Food-safety-system and standards design or review, audits, incident investigations, allergen management, risk mitigation, start-up compliance, premises fit-out advice, training, mentoring and food-loss-and-waste assessments. Its AIFST listing names BRCGS and FSSC 22000.[3][4]
Geographic or sector fit: FoodSure reports onsite and remote delivery for start-ups, single-site operations, commodity traders, manufacturers, retailers, institutional foodservice businesses and multinational corporations.[3][4]
Stated qualifications: The AIFST listing identifies Leanne Singleton MAIFST and attributes more than 30 years of experience in regulatory compliance, consulting, auditing and training to her.[3]
Food Safety Co
Scope: Regulatory food-safety auditing, food-safety-plan advice and assistance with regulatory risk assessments and Local Government requirements.[6]
Geographic or sector fit: Perth and metropolitan food businesses, with particular experience in aged-care and childcare facilities across WA.[6]
Stated qualifications: Food Safety Co identifies owner and director Erina Male as a WA Regulatory Food Safety Auditor authorised by the Western Australian Department of Health, with more than 26 years of experience in public health and food safety.[6]
Quotes and engagement models
Food Safety Experts offers a free consultation covering the business’s products, premises, council requirements and compliance needs, followed by a fixed-fee quote based on scope.[1] Food Safety Plus permits one-off consulting or ongoing support, while FoodSure advertises an obligation-free quote.[2][4]
Food Safety Plus says smaller operations can often implement a compliant food safety system within 12 weeks, with complex sites taking longer for development, training and validation. This is the provider’s estimate, not a guaranteed deadline.[2]
Evidence behind performance claims
The examples below are supplier descriptions and testimonials. They do not provide a common, independently audited basis for ranking inspection outcomes or certification success.
Food Safety Plus publishes case summaries involving an abattoir, a remote mine-site caterer and a manufacturer responding to regulatory non-compliances, but gives no measured outcomes.[2] Food Safety Co publishes aged-care and childcare client testimonials about audits, food-safety plans and audit preparation rather than quantified independent results.[6] Food Safety Experts publishes capability and experience claims without a quantified independent outcome.[1]
These examples may indicate relevant assignment experience, but they do not establish comparative performance or a guaranteed result.
Keep operating responsibility with the business
FSANZ states that food-business owners are responsible for ensuring that handlers and supervisors have the skills and knowledge needed for their work.[8] Buying advice or document templates does not perform those day-to-day tasks. Regulator inspections and approvals should be distinguished from a consultant’s review.
Agree a practical handover: site-specific procedures, staff coaching, completed example records, a corrective-action register and named people responsible for implementation and updates. Ask whether supervisor training is included, who delivers it and whether the qualification meets the relevant jurisdiction’s requirements.
Document who maintains records, checks actual staff competence, completes corrective actions and communicates with the regulator. Assess the consultant’s work against these deliverables rather than treating a brochure or testimonial as an approval outcome.
What to confirm with each provider
Request a current written appointment covering the following items for your site and jurisdiction:
- hourly or daily rates, total fees, GST treatment, deposits, travel costs and reimbursable expenses;
- minimum engagements, contract length, payment milestones, cancellation, refund and rescheduling terms;
- service levels, warranties and guaranteed completion dates;
- eligibility restrictions and documents the client must supply;
- professional-indemnity insurance covering the proposed work;
- who owns and updates documents, implements controls and approves changes; and
- whether audit attendance, revisions, training and corrective-action support are included or charged separately.
Verify the individual who will perform the work by requesting relevant qualifications, auditor authorisations and experience with the applicable sector, standard, regulator or council. Food Safety Plus should also be asked to identify the instrument and scope behind its claim of being “WA Health Approved”, which its page does not explain.[2]
Send each shortlisted consultant the same written brief covering the site, products, jurisdiction, sector, target standard, deliverables and deadline. Compare written quotes and contract terms rather than relying on testimonials or implied outcomes.
References
- Home – Food Safety Experts Food Safety Consultants Melbourne | Food Safety Experts (foodsafetyexperts.com.au)
- Food Safety Consulting WA – Food Safety Plus (foodsafetyplus.com.au)
- Australian Institute of Food Science and Technology (AIFST) – NSW Consultants Register (asn.au)
- FoodSure | Australia's leading food safety consultants (foodsure.com.au)
- Food Safety Consultants Australia | About Erina Male | Food Safety Co (foodsafetyco.com.au)
- FSANZ — Standard 3.2.2A: Food safety management tools (foodstandards.gov.au)
- FSANZ — Food handling skills and knowledge (foodstandards.gov.au)