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The increasing incidence of food‐borne diseases emphasises the importance of improving and maintaining a high standard of food safety in food service establishments. Currently, a proposal to develop an Australian national food hygiene standard based on the HACCP principles, is being discussed by major stakeholders with a view to improving the standard of food safety. This article reports on the diverse standards of hygiene found in a cross‐section of food service establishments in south‐east Queensland, Australia. Hygiene standards were found to be satisfactory in only ten of the 19 sites surveyed. It is important for the success of the national food safety strategy that any legal framework, codes of conduct and auditing of standards, complement the existing workplace practices and culture of food service establishments.

The increasing incidence of food‐borne diseases emphasises the importance of improving and maintaining a high standard of food safety in food service establishments. Currently, a proposal to develop an Australian national food hygiene standard based on the hazard analysis and critical control point (HACCP), principles, is being discussed by major stakeholders with a view to improving the standard of food safety. Notes that food service representatives are naturally supportive of high standards of food safety, but feel the costs associated with HACCP‐based food safety are prohibitive for small businesses, and they advocate that the costs of staff training in food safety be borne by the entry level employee. Reports on the diverse standards of hygiene found in a cross‐section of food service establishments in south‐east Queensland, Australia. Hygiene standards were found to be satisfactory in only ten of the 19 sites surveyed. Small restaurants and hotel/clubs compared unfavourably with larger food service providers, (which included cafeterias, hospitals, resorts and a contract airline caterer). As the food service industry is still dominated by small operations, these findings suggest that there are major challenges ahead in devising a national food hygiene standard which will be accepted and be implemented by this sector.