News release

From: Food Safety Information Council

In the lead up to World Food Safety Day on 7 June 2026, and during Australian Food Science and Technology Week 1 to 7 June 2026, the Food Safety Information Council has released its latest report card on Aussie consumers’ food safety behaviour.

The council’s CEO, Lydia Buchtmann, said the role of the Food Safety Information Council is to educate consumers so we can help reduce the estimated 4.67 million cases of food poisoning in Australia each year that result in 47,900 hospitalisations, 38 deaths and a cost to the economy of $3 billion. In line with the theme for this year’s World Food Safety Day, ‘From burden to solutions – safe food everywhere’, the Council promotes strong consumer food safety practices to reduce the Australian burden.

‘Each year we conduct consumer research to see how Aussies are tracking with their food safety behaviour and here is our latest Food Safety Report Card and it still doesn’t look good:

X It was the last thing I ate that gave me food poisoning. Our latest national survey showed 66% of Australians surveyed recall experiencing some form of food poisoning or gastro and 51% of those blame the last thing they ate when it could have been something they may have eaten days or even weeks ago

X Washing raw chicken in the home now more common. Between 2021 and 2025, the proportion of home cooks typically washing raw chicken has increased, up from 49% to 51% for whole chicken, 43% to 48% for skin-on pieces, and 40% to 44% for skinless chicken pieces. You should never wash raw chicken before cooking. While washing during commercial processing reduces the carriage of pathogens, some still remain, so washing in your kitchen can spread that contamination.  Cooking chicken properly, to 75°C and checking with a meat thermometer in the thickest part, ensures that bacteria are killed. Also, clean the utensils (boards, knives, your hands) used to handle the chicken before handling other foods to avoid potential cross contamination.

X Handwashing. 28% of Australian men and 18% of women surveyed said they didn’t always wash their hands after a pee. Of even more concern, 13% of men and 11% of women said they didn’t always wash their hands after a poo. This is really a worry as faeces may contain harmful bacteria, viruses and even parasites. If you don’t wash your hands after going to the toilet you could well be spreading the risk of diseases to others, especially as 43% of men and 39% of women surveyed also admitted that they didn’t always wash their hands before handling food.

X Reading of cooking and storage instructions on food labels. The most recent research showed only 3 in 10 consumers said they always read cooking and storage instructions, with only 6 in 10 always reading use by dates and 5 in 10 always reading best before dates. However, this latest research showed a reasonably high rate of compliance with cooking and storage practices, even if people don’t always read the instructions.

X Airfryers Our latest research showed air fryers are becoming very popular with 2 in 3 Australians surveyed having an air fryer in their household. Of those, 54% use it weekly and 38% several times a week. The research shows that 44% of air fryer owners find cooking instructions most of the time on crumbed, packaged food and a similar proportion (44%) find air fryer cooking instructions only occasionally on crumbed food.

✔︎ ‘Finally, there are some encouraging trends. While food safety practices among young people could be improved, the research suggests those practices often strengthen over time, as people gain more cooking experience and greater responsibility for preparing food for others,’ Ms Buchtmann concluded.

Sample – Conducted nationally amongst 1221 people aged 18+. Respondents were drawn from the online consumer panel managed by Lightspeed Research, OmniPoll’s online partner –   sample quotas were set for each state, city and regional area, by sex and age.Interviews – Conducted online over the period August 21-26, 2025.Weighting – To help reflect the overall population distribution, results were post-weighted to Australian Bureau of Statistics (2021 Census) data on education, age, sex and area.