What Australian law and food safety schemes require for food scale calibration: trade verification, FSSC 22000, intervals, records and out-of-tolerance steps.
There is no single rulebook for food scale calibration in Australia. Two sets of rules apply, and which one you face depends on how the scale is used. If you sell goods by weight, trade measurement law requires the scale to be an approved type and verified by a licensed technician. If the scale controls food safety, quantity or recipe accuracy in a plant, your certification scheme (such as FSSC 22000, SQF, BRC or a customer manual) sets the calibration, traceability and records expected at audit. Many food businesses fall under both.
This guide sets out what each set of rules says, how often to calibrate, what records to keep and what to do when a scale is out of tolerance.
Start with two questions about each scale on your site.
A deli scale pricing sliced meat answers yes to the first. A dosing scale weighing a preservative into a batch answers yes to the second. A packing-line scale filling retail packs often answers yes to both.
If you use a measuring instrument to sell goods, it must be an approved type suitable for its purpose, verified before use by a licensed technician, used correctly, kept clean and in good working order, and verified again after each repair or adjustment. Equipment that is not used for trade does not need NMI approval.
The obligations reach further than retail counters. Businesses must comply if they sell goods by measurement, manufacture, pack, import or sell pre-packaged goods, or supply or maintain measuring instruments, and the laws apply to both wholesale and retail.
The Department of Industry, Science and Resources explains that under the National Measurement Act 1960 a weighing instrument used for trade must operate within the limits of error permitted under the regulations and be pattern approved. The Act’s Division 2 covers the requirements for use of measuring instruments for trade, including verification before use, inaccurate use and supplying inaccurate instruments. It also deals with letting for hire or loaning unverified instruments, which matters if you rent scales out.
The NMI’s guidance for sellers of meat is a good template for any food sold loose by weight. The scale and any attached point-of-sale system must be NMI-approved and verified by a servicing licensee, products must be sold net of packaging, and the scale must be level and showing zero before use. The same page notes that short-measuring customers can attract fines of up to $313,000 per offence.
Two habits cost nothing and prevent most trade problems. First, non-automatic weighing instruments must be level when tested for verification, and an unlevel instrument giving inaccurate readings may be an offence. If the level bubble is hard to see, a notice showing where it is must be fixed to the instrument. Second, check zero before each use.
The NMI lists faults that mean an instrument needs to be re-verified, including electronic circuit board faults, faulty displays, wrong software versions, accuracy, eccentricity or repeatability errors beyond the maximum permissible errors, and zero or tare setting errors. In practice: after any repair or adjustment, the scale goes back through verification before it returns to trade use.
Trade verification confirms a scale meets legal limits of error for trade. A calibration certificate documents how your instrument compares with a reference standard, with measurement results and traceability. Auditors usually ask for the second. Regulators ask for the first. We explain the trade side in more detail in our guide to NMI trade verification in Australia, and the buying side in buying and verifying NMI scales before first use.
The scale of the system is worth knowing. NMI reports that it licenses 294 external organisations employing more than 1,170 authorised verifiers, who assess between 85,000 and 110,000 measuring instruments each year. Verification is a routine, well-established process, not a rarity.
The law does not spell out a calibration interval for in-plant food scales. Certification schemes and customer manuals do.
One certification body’s FSSC 22000 V6 policy states that scales used to monitor CCPs are to be checked or calibrated in a manner traceable to national standards, normally with a certificate of compliance held for each device or for a reference device used to check others, and that the period is normally 12 monthly. That period can be varied with reasonable verification or as indicated on the certificate.
FSSC 22000 V6 also adds a quantity control requirement. A summary of the additional requirements notes that organisations must run quantity control procedures, including a programme for calibration and verification of equipment used for quality and weight control. That puts checkweighers and filling scales squarely in scope. Our article on food industry calibration and FSSC 22000 audit records covers the documents auditors tend to ask for.
For produce packhouses, the GlobalG.A.P. Produce Handling Assurance Standard states that calibration of measuring equipment shall be conducted at least annually, with written procedures and records, and with verification methods and acceptable ranges of variation documented. It adds that instruments measuring temperature, pH and other important parameters must be maintained and calibrated at a frequency sufficient to assure continuous accuracy.
Large food buyers publish their own supplier rules, and they are often stricter than the scheme. The Arnott’s supplier manual (SBREM v2) is a public example. It defines calibration as comparing a piece of equipment’s results against a known national or international standard or reference method, and says new food safety, quality and regulatory equipment must be calibrated before first use. If you supply a major brand, read its manual alongside your scheme.
Twelve months is the common baseline in the scheme documents above. It is a starting point, not a universal answer. The Arnott’s manual lists what can change the interval: the manufacturer’s recommendation, work before and after a critical project, events that may have damaged equipment, how critical the measurement is (for example a CCP), calibration history and reliability, and incidents or complaints.
Turn that into a working schedule like this:
| Scale use | Factors pushing the interval shorter | Reasonable starting point |
|---|---|---|
| Dosing of allergens, preservatives or additives (CCP or safety-critical) | High consequence of error, scheme scrutiny | Shorter than 12 months, set by your risk assessment |
| Packing-line scales and checkweighers | Constant use, legal net quantity claims | 12 months, with routine in-house checks between |
| Receiving dock and platform scales | Impact, washdown, heavy loads | 12 months, sooner after any knock or damage |
| Bench scales for ingredients | Dust, moisture, frequent moving | 12 months, adjusted using drift history |
| Retail or deli scales used for trade | Legal use | Verified before use and after each repair or adjustment |
The most defensible way to shorten or lengthen an interval is data. If the as-found readings at each calibration show the scale barely moves, you have evidence for a stable interval. If it drifts toward its limit, tighten it. Our piece on using as-found data to defend calibration intervals explains the method.
A calibration checks the scale across its working range, not at one point. Typical checks include:
The reference weights matter as much as the scale. The NMI’s national test procedure for trade masses notes that reference standards need Regulation 13 certificates, and the uncertainty on each mass certificate, plus the scale interval, must be considered. A scale checked against uncertified weights cannot produce a traceable result.
For larger floor and platform units, preparation prevents failed visits. See our platform scale calibration prechecks.
Auditors look for traceability to national standards. A NATA-accredited calibration certificate gives the strongest evidence, because the laboratory’s competence has been independently assessed. Traceable calibration from a non-accredited provider can suit lower-risk equipment where your scheme permits it. Check your scheme and customer requirements for the level required on safety-critical scales. Our guide to the documents that separate traceable from accredited calibration lists what to look for on a certificate.
The Arnott’s manual states that each facility shall have a documented calibration programme, and critical equipment not kept on calibration lists, logs or records is automatically deemed not calibrated. Its minimum record contents are a good checklist for any site:
Add the certificate itself, the as-found and as-left readings and the reference weights used. Keep records where an auditor can reach them in minutes, not days.
A yearly calibration does not tell you what happened in month five. Between visits, a simple in-house routine catches drift early:
In-house checks supplement calibration, they do not replace it. If a check shows a reading outside your limit, the scale is out of service until it has been looked at.
Decide the response before it happens and write it into your procedure. The Arnott’s manual is explicit that any material produced with out-of-calibration equipment shall be placed on hold and reassessed. A workable sequence:
This is why the as-found reading on the certificate matters. It tells you whether the scale was already outside tolerance when it arrived.
Our view on food scale calibration
We see the same pattern across food and pharma sites. The scales that cause audit findings are rarely the ones nobody calibrated. They are the ones calibrated by someone, with a certificate that does not match the scale’s actual working range, or with no as-found data to show what happened before.
Our approach is to treat calibration as part of your quality system, not an annual errand. As a NATA-accredited and ISO 9001 certified business, we calibrate on site or in our workshop, and we support multiple equipment brands regardless of where you bought them. That means one provider can cover your bench scales, platform scales, balances and data loggers, so your records follow one consistent format.
If you sell by weight, we also work with trade measurement requirements. Plan verification and calibration together, so the scale is not out of service twice.
Kaz
If you want one provider to sort scale calibration, trade verification and servicing, our calibration services page sets out NATA calibration, traceable calibration, preventative maintenance, repairs, trade verification and equipment hire. For scales used to sell goods, see our trade measurement page. If a scale has failed and cannot be repaired, browse the scales and balances range. We also offer 24/7 emergency support when a failure stops production.
Not as a single fixed interval for all food scales. Trade measurement law requires scales used for trade to be verified before use and after each repair or adjustment. Calibration intervals for in-plant scales come from your certification scheme and customers, and 12 months is common, as in the FSSC 22000 V6 policy cited above.
Only if it is used to sell goods. Equipment that is not used for trade does not need NMI approval. It may still need calibration to meet your food safety scheme or customer requirements.
A servicing licensee licensed by NMI. NMI licenses 294 external organisations employing more than 1,170 authorised verifiers. A calibration certificate on its own does not replace trade verification.
You can run routine checks with certified check weights, and some schemes allow internal calibration where the reference standards are traceable. For safety-critical scales and audit evidence, many sites use an external accredited provider. Confirm what your scheme and customers require.
Take it out of service, hold product weighed since the last good result, then repair and recalibrate. If it is used for trade, it must be verified again after repair. Record every step.
