Since 1 January 2025, the Good Samaritan Food Donation (GSFD) Act 2024 confers protection on food donors and intermediaries who donate and/or distribute free food from criminal or civil liability for any death or personal injury resulting from consuming donated food. However, the protection only applies if the following four conditions are met:
- The food was not unsafe and not unsuitable at the time it left the possession or control of the food donor;
- Where the food was of a nature that required it to be handled in a particular way to ensure that it remained safe and suitable to consume after it left the possession or control of the food donor, the food donor informed the recipient of the food of those handling requirements;
- Where the food would only have remained safe and suitable to consume for a particular period of time after it left the possession or control of the food donor, the food donor informed the recipient of the food of that time limit; and
- The food donor, before donating the food, took all reasonably practicable measures to comply with any applicable requirement under any written law relating to food safety and food hygiene when handling the food.
