Food stalls at your market: the compliance basics

Who regulates food stalls

A stallholder selling food generally needs to be registered with, or to have notified, a council as a food business — including temporary and mobile setups. Several states run statewide systems so a trader who registers once can notify their attendance at events across council boundaries; elsewhere it's council by council. Where your market sits in that, and whether the market itself needs to tell the council who's trading, is a question for your council — ask it once, early, and write the answer into your application requirements.

Your job is evidence, not enforcement

The organiser's workable role is to require proof of registration at application time, keep it on file, and be able to answer — on the day, to an environmental health officer — who is selling food and where they're registered. You're not the food police: inspecting stalls is the council's job, and vouching for a stallholder's food safety is a responsibility you don't want and can't meet.

On StallsApp, a market that requires food registration collects it in the application, alongside insurance, and the documents stay with the stallholder's record. The same honest caveat as insurance applies: a stored document is what the stallholder uploaded, not a verified fact — checking that a registration is genuine and current stays with you.

Beyond registration: gas, power and water

• LPG appliances usually need to be compliant and connected by someone who knows what they're doing — venues and councils often ask for evidence, and gas incidents are the market fire risk
• Anything plugged into a powered site should be test-and-tagged; many venues require it
• Food stalls need handwashing and potable water arrangements — either theirs or the site's, decided before the day, not during it

Put these requirements on your public page with the application requirements. Stallholders who can't meet them self-select out before you've spent time on an approval.

Home producers and sampling

Cottage producers — jams, cakes, sauces made in home kitchens — are a market staple, and most states have pathways for them, typically distinguishing low-risk foods from potentially hazardous ones that need refrigeration. Free sampling usually counts as food handling too. Neither is a reason to say no; both are a reason to ask your council what applies, because the answer decides what evidence your application should collect.