The five sheets · Sheet 04 · The corner café
Cafés and the NSW Food Authority: keeping a pest file
The NSW Food Authority expects a café, like every food business, to keep pests out and deal with any that get in, and its guidance describes the paperwork that shows it: a pest management plan with a site map, reports of each inspection and treatment, and a map of every bait station. Hiring a licensed pest controller is not a legal requirement, the Authority says, but it can help a business show it is taking all practicable measures.
- Sheet
- 04 of 05
- Applies to
- Food businesses in NSW
- Drawn from
- NSW Food Authority, NSW EPA, FSANZ
- Checked
- 8 October 2026
General information, not legal advice. For your own business, check the NSW Food Authority’s pages listed at the foot of this page, and your local council.
The rule under the paperwork
The national Food Standards Code sets the duty, and the Food Authority points to where it sits: pests are covered by Standard 3.2.2, clause 24, and Appendix 7 of Safe Food Australia, the guide to the food safety standards. A food business in NSW must comply with all of the Food Standards Code and the Food Act 2003 (NSW).
The reason is practical as well as legal. Rats, mice and cockroaches can carry bacteria and viruses and contaminate food and the surfaces it touches, the Authority’s fact sheet says, and pest sightings and contaminated food cause a large number of customer complaints.
What goes in the pest file
Gathered from the Food Authority’s web page and its printed fact sheet, a café’s pest file has three parts. The plan applies whether the café manages pests itself or hires a licensed pest controller; the Authority says both should follow a good plan.
Part A · The pest management plan
- The kinds of pests, and the treatments to be used.
- The areas to inspect and treat, such as behind appliances and equipment, inside wall cavities and cupboards, and under and inside boxes and packaging.
- A site map showing where pest control devices and pesticides are, placed so neither they nor dead pests can touch food or food-contact surfaces: not above food preparation areas, for example.
- How often inspections and treatments happen, which depends on the location, climate, food activities, the pests and how active they are.
Part B · From a licensed pest controller
- A contract setting out the pests and areas to be treated, and how often.
- Written reports of each treatment, including any pest activity found and the chemicals used.
- A map showing where every bait station is.
- Information on the chemicals used.
- Written recommendations, usually, on what the café can do to prevent pest problems. The fact sheet says it is important for the business to act on them.
Part C · The café’s own records
- Reports of pest inspections and treatments, with dates, the kind of activity, the chemicals or controls used, and recommended actions.
- Any recommended action, done as soon as you can.
Regular inspections and treatments do work of their own, the Authority notes: they make sure expired pesticides are not used, baits are replaced or reset, and dead pests are removed.
There is a second record, kept by the technician. Under the Pesticides Regulation, a licensed pest management technician in NSW must record every pesticide application within 48 hours, including the product’s full name, the method, date, time and place, what was treated and the quantity used, and keep that record for 3 years.
A contractor does not end the duty
The fact sheet is clear that hiring a pest controller is only part of it. The café’s own preventive steps, such as sealing gaps, keeping doors closed, storing food sealed and off the floor and keeping bin areas clean, must also be used to show and achieve compliance.
For checking a contractor, the NSW EPA licenses pest management technicians and puts every pesticide licence on a public register. Its suggestion is to ask to see the licence before agreeing to any work.
Any chemicals or baits must be suitable and approved for use in food premises, and must not contaminate food or the surfaces it touches, the Authority says. In NSW, a pesticide must be used as its label directs: the EPA says not following the label is illegal.
The night shift
Pests are most active at night and hide in dark places, the fact sheet says, which is why regular checks for signs of pests are on its list of measures.
For cockroaches, Victoria’s health department notes that baits can offer safety advantages where treatment is needed in commercial food-handling areas, and that surfaces where food is handled must not be treated. Sheet 02 sets out which cockroach lives where.
When an inspector finds a problem
If an authorised officer from the NSW Food Authority or the local council identifies a pest control issue that needs fixing, a range of compliance actions can follow. The fact sheet points to the Authority’s Compliance and Enforcement Policy for how that works.
Complaints from the public travel the same way. Food Standards Australia New Zealand’s list of regulators says complaints about hygiene and standards at most retail food outlets in NSW, other than retail meat premises, go to the local council for the premises. A pest file is how a café shows what it has done.
If the café sits in an older timber building, sheet 05 looks at what attacks timber; if it is buying the building, sheet 01 covers pest and building reports.