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The First Five years

NZFSA Verification Agency – closer links between policy, standards and frontline operations

Steve Gilbert, Director: NZFSA VA

The former MAF Verification Agency formally joined the New Zealand Food Safety Authority on 1 July 2004, becoming the NZFSA Verification Agency (NZFSA VA). The move has been an extremely successful one, with close links maintained between policy makers, regulators and frontline operational staff. This has made interaction with industry sector groups far more straightforward, and management of problem solving much easier.

Role and operation

NZFSA VA audits the food safety programmes of food processors, and provides export certification for meat, game and seafood produced under the programmes. Verification and certification services are provided to 1200 licence holders.

The agency is an operational business. It has an annual turnover of about $34 million, all of which is recoverable from industry. Some 210 of the 280 staff are veterinarians. They are stationed at 80 locations throughout New Zealand, including all meat processing premises. Circuit staff cover smaller processing operations where there is no permanent presence.

In the three years since it became part of NZFSA, the agency has become well integrated, working especially closely with the Export Standards (particularly the Market Access team), New Zealand Standards and Compliance and Investigation groups. This coordination of effort has been welcomed by the food processing industry, which also enjoys a positive working relationship with NZFSA VA.

Key achievements

As a relative newcomer to NZFSA, the agency has just three years’ progress to report on. In that time, however, significant progress has been made:

• Overseas country reviews: The latest reviews of food safety programmes from authorities in two of New Zealand’s biggest markets – the European Union and United States – were very successful. The possibility of a longer interval between audits from the United States is an indicator of the level of excellence reached. Successful audits have also been carried out by smaller but nonetheless important trading partners such as Malaysia and China.

• Development of verification programmes: A new, more flexible performance-based verification system will give the best performers longer between regulatory reviews than the previously mandatory one month. This will reduce food industry costs.

• Circuit operations: The agency’s circuit operations were extensively reviewed, with a focus on capability and consistency of practices and procedures. A tertiary education programme for existing circuit staff was introduced to help meet the challenges from increased volumes of processing. The first graduates from this programme received their certificates in May 2007.

• Knowledge management: Our in-house content management system, VA Online, has brought easy access to the agency’s technical information, national systems and reports. Built on the Documentum package, the system’s consistency and ease of audit have impressed authorities in the US and EU. Stage Two for VA Online will see paperless transactions with export licence holders for items such as Notices of Default.

• Education and capability building: NZFSA VA has provided the food safety component for the final year of the Bachelor of Veterinary Science degree at Massey University. The agency, which is New Zealand’s largest employer of veterinarians, sponsors seven scholarships for fifth-year veterinary students. There has been extensive capability building through in-service training, mentoring, continuing education and one-on-one assistance for those working in isolated environments.

• Recruitment: NZFSA VA has a stable workforce with a remarkably low staff turnover. Nonetheless there is a world shortage of veterinarians, who make up three-quarters of our staff complement. During the past three years the agency has successfully recruited 25 overseas veterinarians and has enjoyed a very high retention rate among those who have joined us from abroad. Our staff told their own stories in a new recruiting video which profiles NZFSA VA and the New Zealand food industry.

• Remuneration: Systems were completely reviewed, with 130 of the agency’s staff now on a salary-based package, a big improvement on the formerly piecemeal approach to remuneration.

• Work culture: Considerable effort has gone into developing a more positive, can-do culture within NZFSA VA. This has resulted in a much more constructive relationship with industry as our emphasis broadens beyond the agency’s policing role, to helping exporters with issues such as market access.

Future challenges

NZFSA VA is looking forward to building on its strong workplace culture and collegial atmosphere, with a continuing programme for job enrichment. This is especially important in an environment where individuals are often physically isolated from their colleagues in their day-to-day work. Further challenges for the NZFSA VA staff include the need to build work programmes that incorporate both premises and on-farm components, which, while providing greater variety and depth, also raise a number of logistical issues. We are also working to improve communication within the organisation so that all staff remain closely connected, involved and motivated.

Relationships within the wider NZFSA will also be developed further, as will relationships with our partners in industry, as we help them develop stronger capabilities for compliance with export standards.