FSANZ receives grant for food safety forum

Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) has been awarded a sizeable grant to create a forum for food safety.

The $492,495 grant from the Department of Agriculture, Water and Environment has been handed to FSANZ to assist in the creation of an international forum that is dedicated to collaborating on the safety of food.

FSANZ is planning to count Australia, China, the Republic of Korea, Japan and Singapore as the initial members of the forum and its title would be the Multilateral Food Safety Forum. It is hoped that bringing together these countries from the Asia–Pacific region will allow for food safety and standards agencies in different countries to work together, to build consistent international regulatory standards.

FSANZ intends for the forum to allow different countries to join forces on food safety projects to promote scientific and risk-based approaches. Trade is a factor too, with projects between countries with two-way trade being a possibility.

The forum will start with its initial small list of countries but may expand its membership opportunities to other countries in the future.

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