NZFSA releases plan of action for new regulations

The New Zealand Food Safety Authority (NZFSA) has announced how it plans to initiate the new Food Act.

The announcement was made in the ‘Domestic Food Review — Policy and Related Implementation Position Paper’, the tenth in a series of policy papers in NZFSA’s major review of the domestic food regime. It describes how the introduction of the new Food Act will be staged over a five-year transition period.

The new Act is being introduced to ensure consumers are protected and New Zealand’s vital food industry is prepared for the extensive growth and changes anticipated in the future.

The food sector currently has an estimated turnover of $12 billion, employs more than 25% of working New Zealanders and provides more than 50% of New Zealand’s export revenue. This is expected to continue to grow in the next 20 years and the new Act will provide a sound regulatory basis for this growth.

“The staged rollout is vital to ensure we don’t overwhelm business operators and regulators with change,” said Carole Inkster, NZFSA’s director of policy.

“It will provide the time to develop the skills and resources to underpin the new regulatory system. It also means that lessons learned early in the transition can be built in as the rollout progresses.”

The paper sets out the general sequence in which each food sector will be brought into the new system, which risk management tool will be applied to each sector and the roles and responsibilities of the various groups of people involved in the food industry.

It also explains that NZFSA plans to use the first six months of transition to set firm dates for registration and hold training workshops for businesses.

“The important feature is that there are chunks of time in the transition plan to ensure everyone can move at a comfortable pace to the new system,” said Inkster.