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Domestic Food Review - Policy and Related Implementation Position Paper

2 Executive Summary

NZFSA is New Zealand’s principal food regulator and is required to administer all national food-related law. NZFSA also has to deliver on several closely related goals:

• reducing sickness from foodborne illness in New Zealand

• ensuring consistency of approach

• providing a seamless regime that ensures safe and suitable food for New Zealand.

Since May 2003, NZFSA has been working on a comprehensive review of government role in all aspects of the safety and suitability of food produced, processed, manufactured, traded, transported and imported to New Zealand. NZFSA has previously published nine papers on this Domestic Food Review.

The Domestic Food Review includes all food for sale or sold in New Zealand, food provided as a reward and, potentially, food funded by government appropriation. The way forward, as agreed by Government, is for all food businesses (other than those covered by the Animal Products Act 1999 or the Wine Act 2003) be required to have a registered Food Control Plan and/or operate under a National Programme, or to have Food Handler Guidance (a non-regulatory tool). Food Control Plans will either be based on an NZFSA-approved Food Control Plan model, or be custom-made by food businesses.

Undertaken in parallel with the Domestic Food Review is the Imported Food Review, which although largely outside the scope of this document, will provide changes to the controls on imported food and will link with the proposals contained in this document, as the proposed Food Act will cover imported food.

As a result of the Domestic Food Review, Government has agreed to the drafting of a new Food Act, new food regulations and new supporting notices that will explicitly place obligations on all food businesses to meet safety and suitability requirements.

A transition policy is needed for all food businesses to change from the present system to the new food regulatory regime. With the variety of starting positions, the variety of solutions, and the large number of food businesses involved, a pragmatic phased approach to transition is needed. Furthermore, the availability of resources, including technically skilled staff at NZFSA, impacts on the practicable implementation of the new regime.

Implementation Matters

To set a context for the transitional arrangements, key matters of implementation are discussed first, such as ‘who is affected by the new food regulatory regime’ and ‘what will food businesses be required to do?’

Food businesses will be generally covered by one of the following tools:

• Food Control Plans: either off-the-peg or custom-made

• National Programmes: developed by NZFSA to control some or all food safety or suitability issues across all or part of a particular sector, or in a particular part of the food chain (a National Programme may be additional to, or instead of, a Food Control Plan)

• Food Handler Guidance: food businesses (this includes charity or fund-raising activities) that meet criteria specified in Appendix 3 do not need to operate under a Food Control Plan or a National Programme, but are still responsible for providing safe and suitable food as required by the Food Act. To assist them to achieve this, a non-regulatory tool, Food Handler Guidance, is expected to be available.

Food businesses that fall within the listings provided in Appendix 2 generally do not need to operate under a Food Control Plan, a National Programme or Food Handler Guidance (with a few exceptions, see section 5.5); but will still be subject to the general provisions of the proposed Food Act, the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code (‘Joint Food Standards Code’) and New Zealand standards (with some exceptions for exporters).

The impact of the introduction of Food Control Plans will be eased by the use of off-the-peg Food Control Plan models freely available from NZFSA. This will mean that many food businesses will not have to bear the costs of plan development, nor need to have their plan evaluated. It is intended that off-the-peg Food Control Plans will be available at least nine months prior to the registration date for that food sector, and the food business’ Food Control Plan will be submitted for registration at least three months before the registration date. Food businesses are therefore given at least six months to complete an off-the-peg Food Control Plan.

For custom-made Food Control Plans that require evaluation, recognised evaluators will be available to businesses by the earliest scheduled date for their food sector’s registration of a Food Control Plan (that is nine months before the registration deadline).

Food Control Plan registrations will be time-limited and non-transferable. It is intended that a Food Control Plan will usually require annual registration (just as food premises registration is annual now). In general, renewal or transfer of the registration should be a straight forward administrative process.

External verification of registered Food Control Plans will be required. NZFSA will recognise external verifiers, who may be third parties or Territorial Authorities, for each sector by the time food businesses in that sector are to commence applying for registration of their Food Control Plans. Territorial Authorities will perform external verification for most off-the-peg Food Control Plans.

Education and competency requirements are likely to be required for food businesses and therefore the minimum required competency will be mandated by the scheduled registration date, with food businesses given a reasonable time period to fulfil any education and training needs.

It is intended that the Food Hygiene Regulations 1974 and the Food (Safety) Regulations 2002 be revoked. They will be replaced by new regulations made solely under the proposed Food Act. It is intended to ease transition by carrying over the bulk of Schedule 1 of the Food Hygiene Regulations for the transition period. A transitional registration process for premises will be provided along with any associated implementation requirements.

Transitional Arrangements

NZFSA intends that the transition period will begin six months after commencement of the new Food Act, with the implementation of Food Control Plans and National Programmes phasing in over a period of five years from the latter date. No specific transitional arrangements are intended for Food Handler Guidance as these are a non-regulatory tool and the material will be prepared as required.

As a foundation arrangement, upon commencement of the proposed Food Act all food businesses are to continue to comply with food safety and suitability requirements (although these will be in the new food regulations and associated notices), the Joint Food Standards Code and the New Zealand standards.

Tables 3.1 to 3.5 outline the transition — by sector and year — for the five year transition period. These tables describe the food sectors identified by NZFSA, together with the risk management tool to apply to each sector. The allocation of food sectors to each year of the transition is primarily based on the Risk Ranking and Prioritisation Model, with the higher-risk food sectors generally transitioned first. The yearly transition presented in Tables 3.1 to 3.5 gives food businesses an idea of when and how they will be brought into the regime.

However, as the commencement of the proposed Food Act is uncertain (depends on passage through Parliament) and some operational aspects remain under development, the specific dates for each food sector will be finalised and notified at least one year in advance.

Food Safety Programmes registered (or being registered) upon commencement of the proposed Food Act will be deemed to be Food Control Plans and specific allowances made for these to fully transition to the new regime. Initially, Risk Management Programmes and Wine Standards Management Plans are to remain in place, but NZFSA is indicating that consequential amendments to these are likely to better align them with Food Control Plans towards the end of the transition period.

Transitional arrangements for new businesses and businesses that operate across more than one food sector are given in section 4.

While commercial drivers may lead some food businesses to wish to register a Food Control Plan early, NZFSA is not encouraging this because this could be more costly to the business. Food businesses will be encouraged to gain the benefits of using an off-the-peg Food Control Plan and guidance material from NZFSA at the time appropriate to that sector in the transition programme.

The next steps in the Domestic Food Review are continuing to develop the implementation programme, completing legislation and development of the systems and tools required for implementation.