Food Safety
Food safety is important for everyone. Handling, storing, and preparing food safely protects us from getting sick with a foodborne illness, or food poisoning. It is not only important to follow good food safety practices in restaurants and public spaces, but also in our own homes.
NWHU inspects food premises regularly to ensure they are following the requirements of Ontario Food Premises Regulation 493/17. Food premises are restaurants, grocery stores, convenience stores, hotdog carts, or food trucks.
What we do
Some of Northwestern Health Unit’s (NWHU) services related to food safety include:
- Safe food handler course
- Permits for Special Events, Farmers’ Markets, and Wild Game Dinners
- Food safety at home
- Food safety alerts and recalls
- Food safety complaints
Safe food handler course
Ontario Food Premises Regulation 493/17 requires that all food premises have at least one food handler or supervisor on-site during operational hours who has obtained a provincially approved Safe Food Handler certificate. There are several ways to obtain your Safe Food Handler Certification, including the following:
Permits for Special Events, Farmers’ Markets, and Wild Game Dinners
If you are:
- planning a special event or farmer’s market where food will be served or sold to the public
or
- selling or serving food at a special event, farmers’ market, or wild game dinner,
then you are planning to operate a temporary food premises and must notify the health unit and receive approval prior to the event.
Most food vendors will require a Temporary Event Food Vendor Permit to post at the event.
You can find information about how to notify the NWHU of your plans, as well as planning packages on our Special Events, Farmers’ Markets, and Wild Game Dinners page.
Food safety at home
Food safety is important everywhere, including in your home. If food is not prepared safely, it can cause food-borne illness. Most food-borne illnesses are preventable and are connected with poor food handling methods.
Learn more about Food Safety at Home and Cleaning and Sanitizing your Kitchen.
Food safety alerts and recalls
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency issues allergy alerts, food advisories and food recalls; and you can find the latest information regarding alerts, advisories, or recalls on the Canadian Food Inspection Agency website. The Agency issues advisories when a food product could be a hazard when eaten. This can include contamination from bacteria or foreign objects. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency can also issue an advisory when a food contains an ingredient that is a known allergen and the allergen is not listed.
Food safety complaints
If you are concerned about food safety, or if you have food-related concerns about a food premise, you can contact us. A Public Health Inspector will follow up with any food-related complaints.
You can email your concerns to talkpublichealth@nwhu.on.ca, call 1-800-830-5978, or lodge a complaint through our Choosewise disclosure site.