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AgVetLink August 2003

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Recent events

• On 16 July 2003 the NZFSA held another Consumers Forum (which is designed to give consumers direct input into NZFSA activities). The major topic discussed was the way in which maximum residue limits (MRLs) are set in New Zealand. The purpose of the presentation was to inform consumers as to the assurance of safety that this process provides. John Reeve from the ACVM Group was one of the keynote speakers and covered the MRL setting process prior to the public consultation step.
• Debbie Morris recently addressed the New Zealand Feed Manufacturers Association AGM. Issues discussed included the development of the oral nutritional compounds standard (see page 7) and the recent audit of the system.
• The ACVM Group met with the Taranaki Branch of the New Zealand Veterinary Association to discuss the prescription animal remedy (PAR) operational policy development. The 22 July meeting was held in Stratford.
• Debbie Morris and Maree Zinzley (ACVM Operations Manager) addressed the Agcarm AGM on 24 July in Wellington.
• The ACVM Group has contacted all registrants of products used for deer develvetting to advise that any updates under the ACVM Act will be required to address the issue of potential residues, and that the current MRL is the default level in the food standard of 0.1ppm. For a number of years NZFSA and MAF business groups have discussed the need for the development of a code or practice to replace the deer develvetting regulations made under the Animal Remedies Act. There must be an approved code of practice in place under the ACVM Act prior to the end of the transition period on 2 July 2004 if the practice of develvetting is to continue.
• The ACVM Group has been in contact with the bee industry and affected marketers to remind them of the need to have products that were not covered by previous legislation, but that come under the ACVM Act, registered prior to 1 July 2004 to enable continued importation, manufacture, sale and use. 
  We will write to other industries and marketers in the short term to remind them of this same requirement.
• The ACVM Group’s response to submissions on the discussion document Regulatory Control of Prescription Animal Remedies is now available on the ACVM website. We also have new proposed changes to the GRAS list plus new and revised standards for the efficacy of some veterinary medicine products.

Fieldays activities

The ACVM Group was represented on the NZFSA stand at the Hamilton Fieldays in June, but the main area of focus was on compliance activity in the field.

The aim of the visit was to:

• assess the marketplace in veterinary medicines and plant compounds
• confirm compliance of approved products with the conditions of their approval
• provide education to people marketing agricultural compounds who were unfamiliar with their obligations under the Agricultural Compounds and Veterinary Medicines Act 1997.

It was necessary for the Group to issue two prohibition notices to registrants at the Fieldays – one for a product requiring registration that was being marketed with a label bearing the registration number of a different registered product, the other for a range of products previously determined as requiring registration.

It was apparent that the main area of non-compliance with the Act was in the area of herbal and homeopathic veterinary medicines, with a high degree of compliance evident for the larger veterinary medicine and plant compound marketing companies.

The ACVM Group will investigate non-compliant products identified at the Fieldays over the following months and will consider how best to increase awareness within the herbal and homeopathic remedy marketplace of the requirements for veterinary medicines under the ACVM Act.