Complaints

How to make a complaint

Make sure you understand what we will investigate before making your complaint.

Step 1. Go to our online complaint form.

Step 2. Fill in your contact details.

Step 3. Describe your complaint in the “Complaint details” section.

Choose from the list of complaint types. If you don’t know what best describes the type of complaint you are making then choose “other”.

In the box “What is the complaint about?”, explain the issue or problem that you want us to investigate. Include the:

• name and address of the business or person
• date of the incident
• vehicle registration for complaints about meat transport vehicles, if known.

In the box “Provide details about the complaint”, describe the evidence that supports your complaint.

Step 4. You can attach files and photos that you refer to in the complaint.

You need to provide as much information as you can. The more information we have the quicker we can take action. We can only investigate complaints that are supported by direct evidence.

If you do not want us to contact you, answer “No” to the question “Do you require a response about your complaint?”

Go to Log a Complaint.

What we will investigate

We take all complaints seriously and investigate complaints about food businesses and facilities that we licence. This includes animal welfare.

We may pass on your food safety complaint to a local council if it is about a food business, facility or activity that does not need a PrimeSafe licence. This could be food safety complaints about restaurants, food stalls at street markets, or supermarkets.

Check if a business or facility has a PrimeSafe licence by using Find a licensed business.

You can make a complaint about:

• food safety issues or non-compliance at meat or seafood processing facilities that we have licensed
• food safety issues or non-compliance in meat transport vehicles that we have licensed
• a meat or seafood facility or vehicle that is operating without a licence
• third-party auditors that we have approved
• information privacy breaches under the Privacy and Data Protection Act 2014.

We do not investigate complaints:

• about the customer service provided by food businesses
• about food products that are safe to eat but you think are poor quality
• when you have not given us evidence to support your complaint.

Your privacy when making a complaint

Your complaint is completely confidential. By law we cannot disclose your identity to the person or business you are complaining about.

To assist us in addressing your complaint, you are required to provide your contact details in the mandatory fields. If you prefer not to provide your contact details online, you may email your complaint to info@primesafe.vic.gov.au. For urgent or complex matters that cannot be submitted online or via email, please contact the PrimeSafe office and ask to speak with an Authorised Officer.

What we do to investigate your complaint

We may do a surprise inspection. That means we will go to the business or facility unannounced. The inspection can include:

• looking at the businesses food safety program and records
• seeing if the business is meeting its licence requirements.

Depending upon what we find we can:

• make the business fix any problems we find
• take action against the business if the problem is serious.

We cannot give out information about our investigations. This includes the progress or the findings.

This is because:

• it may affect potential legal proceedings
• of privacy laws.

When we investigate your complaint we will tell you:

• when the investigation is complete
• if we found evidence that substantiated your complaint.

We will not contact you if you have answered “No” to the question “Do you require a response about your complaint?” on our online form.