Customer complaints

If a person contacts your food business to report or complain that they think your food made them sick, try not to not become apologetic, defensive, or indicate to the person that your food may be at fault. The source of illness can only be determined by a proper investigation supported by laboratory tests.

Whether or not your business decides to compensate the complainant in any way, is your decision.

Suggested procedure

Upon receiving advice from a patron that they believe food from your business made them sick, the person receiving the advice should obtain and record the following details:

time and date that the complaint was made
name and contact details of the complainant
the number of people that are allegedly ill
date and time the food was purchased/eaten
what food/s were eaten
what food/s the person suspects caused the illness
whether or not any suspected food remains in the possession of the complainant.

Note: The patron is not required to provide any of the above information. If they choose to answer the questions, you should treat all information in the strictest confidence.

After receiving the information, the employee should immediately inform the supervisor or owner of the food business and provide the details of the incident.

The supervisor or owner should ascertain if any of the food suspected to have caused the illness remains on their premises. If so, all suspected food remaining should be isolated, labelled as ‘suspected unsafe food’ and placed in refrigeration, separate from other food. If Queensland Health investigates, an environmental health officer will advise you what to do with the food.

Are two or more people sick?

If two or more people allege that they were sick from the same food or they ate food from your food business on the same day and time, you should contact the local Public Health Unit to report the incident.

Records

The following records can be used when you receive a customer complaint:

Customer complaint log

More information

If you have any further questions relating to the management of an alleged foodborne illness incident, contact the Queensland Health Public Health Unit for the area in which your food business is located.

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