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AgVetLink: Number 58, October 2006

Unapproved Claims

The ACVM Group wishes to remind proprietors, wholesalers and retailers of their obligations when selling products:

Registered products:

It is an offence to make claims about products that have not been approved as part of the registration (if those claims are covered by the ACVM Act).

Exempted products:

Making claims that are beyond the scope of the exemption from registration for a kind of product will nullify the exemption, making it an offence to sell or use a product of that kind without first registering it.

Even implying unapproved claims may be a breach of the conditions of registration or nullify an exemption from registration. This means that the choice of product name, the use of particular words (such as ‘aid’, ‘lessen the likelihood’, ‘treat’, ‘help to support’, and ‘reduce a condition’), or the publication of testimonials from users of the product are likely to be offences.

There are no provisions in the ACVM Act or its Regulations that can be used to control the opinions or advocacy of the general public in regard to the appropriate use of an agricultural compound or veterinary medicine. Any person can testify to or advocate for the effectiveness of a trade name product (as long as that person is not associated with the supply of that product for an unapproved purpose). However, NZFSA can take regulatory action against a person who advocates with the intention of selling that product.

When it comes to the attention of the ACVM Group that a product is being misrepresented, it will investigate. If necessary, it will itemise where it considers that parties have expressly stated or implied via:

• the name of the product;

• words in written, printed, spoken or electronic form;

• pictorial representation, design or device; and/or

• testimonials (genuine or otherwise)

that the product can be used for purposes outside the scope of the product’s registration or exemption from registration. The Group will expect parties, after being advised of unacceptable practices, to cease the offending practices. If the party fails to comply, the ACVM Group will consider prosecution.

2006/07 Food Residues Surveillance Programme (FRSP)

The 2006/07 FRSP will cover raspberries, apricots, tomatoes, mandarin, spinach, green beans, peaches and cauliflower. As usual, we will run the normal multi-residue screen (which can detect 200+ compounds). We will also run a dithiocarbamate fungicide screen (8 fungicides) on all these crops except for cauliflower. Brassicas are not amenable to dithiocarbamate analysis using the carbon disulphide method because they naturally produce sulphur-containing compounds that are indistinguishable from the dithiocarbamates.

Raspberries and apricots were meant to be in last year’s programme but were unavailable due to overly-late sampling. We gave them a ‘free pass’ this time around and included them in the programme. For the rest of the programme, we scored the foods against the agreed criteria, arriving at the list above.

This year we have put some emphasis on the balance of the crops selected. You will notice that the proposed programme includes four fruits (two stonefruit, one berry, one citrus), making up half the list; the other half of the list is made up of vegetables and comprises one fruiting veg, one leafy veg, one legume and one brassica.

If you have any comments about the programme itself, or how we’ve communicated past results, contact:

Paul Dansted, Principal Adviser (Chemicals)
New Zealand Food Safety Authority
PO Box 2835, WELLINGTON
Phone: 04 463 2536
Fax: 04 463 2566

Email: paul.dansted@nzfsa.govt.nz