Selling BBQ accessories in Australia: safety, food contact and labelling rules

When you import BBQ tools, baskets, skewers or grates and sell them under your own brand, the law treats you as more than a shop. This guide covers the three areas that matter most: product safety under the Australian Consumer Law, the food contact rules, and what goes on the label. It is general information, not legal advice; for a specific product, check the source or ask a lawyer.

You can be treated as the manufacturer

The Australian Consumer Law (ACL), which the ACCC enforces, sits in Schedule 2 of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010. Under section 7, a manufacturer includes:

• a person who imports goods into Australia, when the maker has no place of business in Australia; and
• a person who lets their name, brand or mark be applied to goods they supply.

Import a private label grill basket from China and you are likely both. That means customers and the ACCC can look to you, not the factory, when something goes wrong.

Product safety: what you must do

• Supply safe goods. The consumer guarantees include that goods are of acceptable quality, which covers being safe.
• Check for mandatory standards and bans. Suppliers, including importers, must not supply products that do not meet a mandatory safety standard, or that are banned. The ACCC's Product Safety Australia site lists them. Check each product, and anything you bundle with it, such as a battery-powered thermometer.
• Report serious incidents. Under section 131 of the ACL, if you learn that a death, serious injury or serious illness was or may have been caused by the use or foreseeable misuse of goods you supplied, you must notify within 2 days of becoming aware. Reporting is not an admission of liability.
• Recall if needed. If a product turns out to be unsafe, every business in the supply chain, including importers, has a part in recalling it.

Food contact: the rules behind "food safe"

Australia has no single licence or stamp that makes a BBQ tool "food safe". The rules sit in the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code.

• The general rule is in Standard 1.1.1, section 1.1.1-10(11): packaging and any article or material in contact with food must not, if taken into the mouth, be capable of being swallowed or obstructing a passage, or be otherwise likely to cause bodily harm, distress or discomfort. This used to be Standard 1.4.3; the Code now notes there is no Standard 1.4.3.
• FSANZ (Food Standards Australia New Zealand) explains that the Code requires food in contact with packaging to be safe, that Standard 1.4.1 sets maximum levels for some contaminants that can get into food, and points to the Australian Standard for plastics in contact with food, AS 2070.
• Standards 3.2.2 and 3.2.3 bind food businesses, such as your butcher, caterer or restaurant customers, not you as a retailer. Standard 3.2.3 says food contact surfaces of equipment must be easy to clean, must not absorb grease, food or water, and must be made of material that will not contaminate food. Food business buyers may ask you to show your product meets that.
• FSANZ guidance on Standard 3.2.3 names copper and galvanised metal in contact with acidic foods as an example of metal getting into food, and says certain grades of stainless steel are generally likely to be suitable.

What that means for your spec: name the material and grade of every part that touches food, ban coatings, paints and lubricants on food contact areas unless agreed, and ask the factory what test reports it holds for those materials, who did the tests and to what method. See stainless vs chrome-plated vs non-stick grill baskets for the materials.

Country of origin

• For most non-food goods, a country of origin label is not required by the ACL, but any origin claim you make must not be misleading. Section 255 of the ACL gives a safe harbour: a "made in" claim is not misleading if the goods were last substantially transformed in that country. A grill basket made in China and packed in Australia is still made in China.
• Some imports need an origin label at the border. The Commerce (Trade Descriptions) Regulation 2016 lists goods that cannot be imported without a trade description, including enamelled kitchenware and kitchen utensils, and goods imported as prepacked articles, meaning packed the way such goods are usually packed for retail sale. Where it applies, the trade description must name the country where the goods were made.
• The Federal Register of Legislation shows that regulation due to be repealed on 1 April 2027 (a scheduled sunset). Check what applies when your goods arrive, and ask your customs broker.
• The easy answer: put "Made in China" (or the true country) clearly on the retail pack. It costs nothing and meets both rules.

Trade measurement: say how many

If your product is sold prepacked, trade measurement law applies. The National Measurement Institute (NMI) administers it.

• A prepackaged product must carry a clear measurement marking, and the NMI guide says it must be on the main display panel.
• The NMI has approved tableware, kitchen utensils and equipment to be sold by number, so a BBQ tool set is usually marked by count, for example "6 skewers".
• There is an exemption for articles sold by number when fewer than 9 are in a pack and the pack lets a buyer readily see the count.
• The NMI expects importers, packers and sellers to make sure the marking is accurate, and importers to check goods before they are sold.

Other things that belong on the pack

• Your business name, so a customer knows who stands behind the product.
• Care instructions for the material, and a heat or handling warning where the product gets hot or has sharp points.
• A barcode, if you sell through retailers. See GS1 barcodes in Australia.

Decision rules

• If you put your brand on it and import it, act as the manufacturer: keep the spec, test reports and supplier details on file.
• If a product touches food, name every food contact material in the spec and check it on the sample and at inspection.
• If it is retail packed, mark the country of origin and the count on the front of the pack.
• If you are not sure whether a mandatory standard applies, check the ACCC list for that product before you order, not after it lands.

Common mistakes

• Assuming the factory carries the legal risk because it made the product.
• Calling a product "food grade" or "food safe" with nothing on file to back it.
• A coating or lubricant on a food contact surface that nobody specified.
• "Designed in Australia" on the front and no true country of origin anywhere.
• Leaving the count off a prepacked set.
• Not knowing about the 2 day reporting rule until there is an incident.

Next step

Write the materials, labels and marks into your spec and artwork. The artwork checklist for private label packaging turns this into tick boxes, and the pre-shipment QC checklist checks them before the balance is paid.

Common questions