What the star rating means

All food businesses receive an Eat Safe Mackay food safety star rating of either no star, two, three, four or five stars at the end of a food safety audit conducted by an authorised Mackay Regional Council Environmental Health Officer (EHO).

Businesses that demonstrate good levels of food safety will receive three or more stars and can choose to display their food safety star rating onsite and online.

The star ratings are described below.

Please note there may be a number of reason why a business does not have their star rating on display.

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One star rating

In order to communicate food safety rating information, Council chose to make the no star rating the only non-compliant rating. Therefore, there is no one star rating. The next rating, two stars, indicates a low level of compliance, and the remaining ratings (three, four and five stars) indicate high and full levels of compliance.

Reasons for not displaying a star rating

If you are having trouble finding a food business or the rating reads “Rating Not Displayed”, there may be a couple of reasons why:

1. Eat Safe Mackay only applies to food businesses that are required to hold a food licence within the Mackay Regional Council boundaries.

2. Displaying of a food safety star rating is voluntary for all food businesses, even if they have achieved three stars or higher.

3. Other reasons why a food business may not have their food safety star rating displayed include:

  • The food business has received a food safety rating of less than three stars
  • The food business has not paid its annual food licence fee to Council
  • The food business recently opened as a new business or changed owners and has not been audited yet

Incentives for businesses

Eat Safe Mackay provides incentives and benefits for businesses to display their star rating of three or more stars, as well as encouraging lower rated businesses to improve their food safety standards and Eat Safe Mackay star rating.

As a result, food safety standards across Mackay will improve and the community will be more informed about food safety.

One of the aims of Eat Safe Mackay is to raise food safety awareness to assist the community to make informed food and dining choices. You may wish to speak to the business owner or member of staff about why the food business is not displaying its star rating.

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