NZ Food Act under review

“The Food Act is outdated and our current regulatory system is ineffective and inefficient,” said Kate Wilkinson, the New Zealand Minister for Food Safety. “As a consequence it imposes unnecessary compliance costs and doesn’t do enough to protect consumers and reduce food-borne illness.”

The New Zealand Food Act is now 28 years old, and is being reviewed to bring it into a risk based system. The new Food Bill has been undergoing development for the past two years and will help exports, improve business certainty and therefore reduce compliance costs. “It will be aligned with the New Zealand Standard platform, which provides the basis for our food exports,” said Minister Wilkinson.

The current Food Act has gaps, which 40 local councils are addressing by having separate bylaws. The most common bylaws relate to compulsory training and qualifications of food handlers, as well as licensing and registration requirements. The new Bill will address these and other identified issues.

The new Bill will be introduced into the NZ Parliament in 2010 and is expected to be implemented by late 2010 or early 2011. It will also replace the Food Hygiene Regulations 1974.It will be linked closely to Food Standards Australia New Zealand’s Food Standards Code.

The Bill will offer much more protection for consumers and will align NZ with most of the other developed countries by transferring the responsibility for food safety in a business away from the government inspectors and to the person in charge of that business.

A set of agreed indicators will be developed and the effectiveness of the new Bill will be measured against them, to ensure that it provides best practice.