shopfitout.com.auSheet SF-04

SF-04Food premises

Food premises: what Standard 3.2.3 asks of a fit-out

Every food business in Australia may only use premises, fixtures, fittings and equipment that comply with Standard 3.2.3, Food Premises and Equipment, in the Food Standards Code. It sets outcomes rather than measurements: floors, walls and ceilings that can be cleaned and keep out pests, hand basins where food handlers can reach them, and storage that keeps chemicals and belongings away from food.

General information, not food safety or legal advice. The clauses below are quoted from the Standard as compiled on 3 June 2021, the current compilation on the Federal Register of Legislation. It is enforced by government food agencies, and they are the ones to ask about your own premises.

Sheet
SF-04 Food premises
Covers
Australia
Checked
8 Oct 2026
Governing sources
Food Standards Code, Standard 3.2.3 Food Premises and Equipment; Safe Food Australia, 4th edition (FSANZ)

A standard of outcomes

Food Standards Australia New Zealand lists the Chapter 3 food safety standards as applying in Australia only. Its guide to them, Safe Food Australia, says plainly: “There is no prescribed list of specifications for the design and construction of food premises, equipment, fixtures or fittings to meet the standard.” What counts as appropriate depends on the food operation and its risks. The guide names useful references, including Australian Standard AS 4674-2004 (“Design, Construction and Fit-Out of Food Premises”), the National Construction Code, and the fit-out guides published by state and territory food regulators.

The guide also says the Standard applies to existing and new premises alike, and to domestic premises used commercially, temporary premises and mobile premises, with the same obligations except where a clause allows an exemption. Safe Food Australia is written for the agencies that enforce the standards, and FSANZ says businesses may also find it helpful.

Two bar stools with worn red-brown leather seats and black metal legs in front of a panelled timber bar counter with carved brackets under its top. A no-smoking sign is in a bright window behind.
A panelled timber bar counter on the drinking side of a room: clause 9 says the floor, wall and ceiling rules do not apply to drinking areas. Photo by StockSnap on Pixabay.
Section through the back-of-counter area of a café An illustrative cross-section, drawn like a joiner’s detail, with no dimensions. From left to right: a public seating area with a table, marked as outside the floor, wall and ceiling clauses; the service counter drawn as a millwork carcass with a benchtop, a kickboard and shelves; behind it the food preparation zone with a sealed floor, a wall and a ceiling, each tagged 10 and 11; a hand basin on the back wall tagged 14; and a separate storage cupboard at the right for chemicals and staff belongings tagged 15. 9 10 11 12 14 15
An illustration only, not a design: each tag is the number of the clause below that governs that part of the room. The dining side (9) sits outside the floor, wall and ceiling clauses.

The clauses a fit-out touches

Below are the clauses of Standard 3.2.3 that shape a shop or café fit-out, in the Standard’s own order: clauses 3, 9 to 11, 12(2), 14 and 15, quoted in full. Clauses 1 and 2 (interpretation and application), 4 to 8 (water, sewage and waste water, garbage, ventilation and lighting), 12(1), (3) and (4) (the rest of the general requirements for fixtures, fittings and equipment), 13 (connections), 16 (toilets) and 17 (vehicles) also apply and are on the Federal Register of Legislation.

  1. 3

    General requirements. “The design and construction of food premises must”:

    1. “be appropriate for the activities for which the premises are used;”
    2. “provide adequate space for the activities to be conducted on the food premises and for the fixtures, fittings and equipment used for those activities;”
    3. “permit the food premises to be effectively cleaned and, if necessary, sanitised; and”
    4. “to the extent that is practicable”: (i) “exclude dirt, dust, fumes, smoke and other contaminants;” (ii) “not permit the entry of pests; and” (iii) “not provide harbourage for pests.”
  2. 9

    Application. “The requirements for floors, walls and ceilings specified in this Division apply to the floors, walls and ceilings of all areas used for food handling, cleaning, sanitising and personal hygiene except the following areas”:

    1. “dining areas;”
    2. “drinking areas; and”
    3. “other areas to which members of the public usually have access.”
  3. 10

    Floors. (1) “Floors must be designed and constructed in a way that is appropriate for the activities conducted on the food premises.”

    (2) “Subject to subclause (3), floors must”:

    1. “be able to be effectively cleaned;”
    2. “be unable to absorb grease, food particles or water;”
    3. “be laid so that there is no ponding of water; and”
    4. “to the extent that is practicable, be unable to provide harbourage for pests.”

    (3) “The following floors do not have to comply with subclause (2)”:

    1. “floors of temporary food premises, including ground surfaces, that are unlikely to pose any risk of contamination of food handled at the food premises; and”
    2. “floors of food premises that are unlikely to pose any risk of contamination of food handled at the food premises provided the food business has obtained the approval in writing of the appropriate enforcement agency for their use.”
  4. 11

    Walls and ceilings. (1) “Walls and ceilings must be designed and constructed in a way that is appropriate for the activities conducted on the food premises.”

    (2) “Walls and ceilings must be provided where they are necessary to protect food from contamination.”

    (3) “Walls and ceilings provided in accordance with subclause (2) must be”:

    1. “sealed to prevent the entry of dirt, dust and pests;”
    2. “unable to absorb grease, food particles or water; and”
    3. “able to be easily and effectively cleaned.”

    (4) “Walls and ceilings must”:

    1. “be able to be effectively cleaned; and”
    2. “to the extent that is practicable, be unable to provide harbourage for pests.”
  5. 12(2)

    Fixtures, fittings and equipment. “Fixtures and fittings must be designed, constructed, located and installed, and equipment must be designed, constructed, located and, if necessary, installed, so that”:

    1. “there is no likelihood that they will cause food contamination;”
    2. “they are able to be easily and effectively cleaned;”
    3. “adjacent floors, walls, ceilings and other surfaces are able to be easily and effectively cleaned; and”
    4. “to the extent that is practicable, they do not provide harbourage for pests.”
  6. 14

    Hand washing facilities. (1) “Subject to subclause (4), food premises must have hand washing facilities that are located where they can be easily accessed by food handlers”:

    1. “within areas where food handlers work if their hands are likely to be a source of contamination of food; and”
    2. “if there are toilets on the food premises”: “immediately adjacent to the toilets or toilet cubicles.”

    (2) “Subject to the following subclauses, hand washing facilities must be”:

    1. “permanent fixtures;”
    2. “connected to, or otherwise provided with, a supply of warm running potable water;”
    3. “of a size that allows easy and effective hand washing; and”
    4. “clearly designated for the sole purpose of washing hands, arms and face.”

    (3) “Paragraph (2)(a) does not apply to temporary food premises.”

    (4) “With the approval in writing of the appropriate enforcement agency, food premises that are specified in the approval do not have to comply with any requirement of this clause that is also specified in the approval.”

    (5) “Only food premises that are used principally as a private dwelling or are temporary food premises may be specified in an approval for the purposes of subsection (4).”

  7. 15

    Storage facilities. (1) “Food premises must have adequate storage facilities for the storage of items that are likely to be the source of contamination of food, including chemicals, clothing and personal belongings.”

    (2) “Storage facilities must be located where there is no likelihood of stored items contaminating food or food contact surfaces.”

Reading the clauses against a plan

Three things are easy to miss when the drawings come back from a designer.

Registration and licensing of food businesses is a separate, state-based question. In NSW, the planning department’s 2020 café fact sheet lists notifying the council and the NSW Food Authority, and a Food Authority licence for certain activities; Sheet SF-02 has the details. This guide does not cover registration in other states.

Other sheets