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Voluntary Implementation Programme

2 Background

Since May 2003, the New Zealand Food Safety Authority (NZFSA) has been working on a comprehensive review of the Government’s role in the New Zealand food sector. The Domestic Food Review (the Review) sought to respond to a number of problems and issues that have arisen with the existing regulatory framework applying to food in New Zealand and is only the second such review in 30 years.

The Review covered all food sold in New Zealand and concluded that the current food regulatory regime must be improved and that this could not be done without legislative change. Subsequently, Cabinet agreed to the development of a new Food Bill in October 2006. Government agreed that a new Food Bill should be written and development of the legislation has been underway since that time.

Progress of the Food Bill

Drafting of the Food Bill is well underway. It is a complex piece of legislation and the drafting process has taken longer than anticipated. It is intended that the Food Bill be finalised and ready for introduction to the House by July 2008 so that it will proceed through Select Committee and the Parliamentary process during 2009.

There are two issues that may delay the progression of the Food Bill in 2008. Firstly, the Food Bill may be delayed if the drafting is not completed well in advance of when introduction is intended to be sought. Secondly, NZFSA is mindful that 2008 is an election year and the progression of the Food Bill through the Parliamentary process will be dependent on the Government’s priorities both before and after the election.

As the Food Bill will not be able to commence in mid 2008 as originally planned, NZFSA is working to find ways to implement components of the system voluntarily under the existing legislation. NZFSA is keen to maintain the momentum built up over the last four years. A voluntary implementation to the extent possible under the existing law has the advantage of allowing NZFSA, Territorial Authorities and food business operators more time to develop skills and systems to support the new environment that will be in place when the Bill is passed and to identify areas that might be improved.

Why the Voluntary Implementation Programme has been developed

NZFSA has made a decision to prepare a Voluntary Implementation Programme (VIP) to build on the momentum of the Review and implementation work completed thus far. The intention is to proceed as far as possible with implementation of the Review using the current legislative base, i.e. the provisions of the current Food Act 1981. VIP will be a broad based package of various aspects of the proposed new domestic food regime, including the implementation of the off-the-peg Food Control Plans as Food Safety Programmes for some of the sectors identified for early transition.

VIP is seen to be an education opportunity for Territorial Authorities, Public Health Units, NZFSA and food businesses that choose to participate. The requirements of the VIP are in line with the proposed requirements of the new domestic food regime.

VIP provides an opportunity to trial aspects of the domestic food regime from which implementation lessons will be learned and incorporated into full implementation.

It is intended that under VIP, an off-the-peg Food Control Plan template will be available as a Food Safety Programme for the food service and on-site catering and off-site catering sectors. These sectors have been chosen because they were due to transition into the new domestic food regime in year one or two, and work on the off-the-peg template for these sectors nearing completion within NZFSA. Trials of the template for the food service sector has been recently completed.

VIP will benefit all regulatory bodies and food businesses involved as it will provide a “soft landing” for the smoother implementation of the new domestic food regime.

NZFSA will have a range of material available prior to implementation of VIP for Territorial Authorities and those businesses that had been identified as within the nominated food sectors (food service and catering sectors). Business operators in these sectors will be able to implement a Food Control Plan (freely available to them) then register the Food Control Plan as a Food Safety Programme, which gives the business an exemption from complying with Regulations 1 to 17 of the Food Hygiene Regulations 1974.

The new imports programme will also be affected by the delay in the Food Bill’s introduction and NZFSA intends to consult on aspects of that programme that can be delivered under current legislation in the first half of 2008. Further information on this proposal will be available on the NZFSA website.

Next steps

Participation in VIP is voluntary. Territorial Authorities’ involvement is on a self selection basis, and NZFSA is pleased to see a range of TA’s participating in the programme. Businesses that are identified as within one of the nominated food sectors may choose to participate and benefit from the programme. NZFSA will provide support to the Territorial Authorities and food businesses that choose to be involved in VIP.