‘Unregistered’ restaurants selling takeaway food on Facebook Marketplace

It might seem like good business, but a food safety advocate warns it’s not only illegal, but could have “severe consequences” for health.

Some might consider them savvy entrepreneurs pulling themselves up by their bootstraps, but independent chefs cooking up meals in their home kitchens are breaking the law and could be risking their customer’s health according to a health promotion charity.

The Food Safety Information Council has warned Australians not to buy (or indeed sell) food cooked in home kitchens being sold on Facebook Marketplace.

Advertising food and home cooked meals on Facebook Marketplace doesn’t violate the social media platform’s policies but the site already struggles to keep off the things that do.

While Facebook doesn’t have a problem with it, Food Safety Information Council chair Cathy Moir said the unregulated market puts the “public at risk” and it’s “unlikely” that the sellers “would meet the required food safety standards”.

“These unregulated food sales are a considerable food safety risk. There is a real risk of food poisoning, which, in its worst form can have severe health consequences,” Ms Moir said.

RELATED: Reason Facebook staffer turned down $87k

RELATED: ‘Horrible experiment’ shows Twitter bias

Food for sale on Facebook Marketplace

She said the Council first became aware of the practice in May thanks to media reports, but the sale of home cooked meals on social media has been going on for several years, and has reportedly increased during the coronavirus pandemic and associated lockdown.

Ms Moir said the practice “has increased significantly with a range of high-risk foods such as curries, spring rolls, dumplings, roast meats, baked goods, pastas, seafood and even raw sausages being offered”.

She said councils and governments are doing their best to clamp down on “unregistered food businesses” but “new sellers keep popping up and this is putting a considerable strain on our health services”.

RELATED: Worrying trend Aussies are searching

Sellers often offer different weekly menus.

She added that unregulated sellers were more likely to be loose about their labelling, including for allergies, and also less knowledgeable about “hygiene, safe cooking and cooling rules, correct refrigeration, safe storage and transportation” than registered businesses are required to be.

Ms Moir said that if the place you’re picking up food from is a home address, can’t prove they’re a licensed vendor on their website, social media, or to you personally, and the food they sell you is cheaper than what you’d expect to pay at a restaurant, it’s likely the business is unregistered.

She said sellers who wanted to go legit just need to contact their local council for advice on “how to set up a food business, safely”.