Further on the Food Bill

Further to our concerns about the Food Bill noted below, the NZ Food Safety Authority (NZFSA) has written to Hort NZ.

They are recommending that the best way to meet our concerns about unnecessary compliance duplication is through provisions for exemptions. These enable an exemption to be granted if there are other sufficient safeguards under the Act or … by other means, to minimise any risk to public health in providing the exemption.

This would not exempt us from the principle requirements of the Act. It is now NZFSA’s stated view that people operating under certain schemes (e.g. NZGAP and Global GAP) could be exempted from requirements for registration and/or verification. Go to our Links page to find more information on NZGAP and Global GAP.

NZFSA is of the view that recognition of industry programmes or private standards … is not currently enabled under the Act.

While this solution is not the preferred one, the effect on growers may effectively be the same. We will be following this closely to see that officials stick to their assurances, and that the existing food safety programmes are recognised.”